Through the Dark
by Mayrose4
Summary: The Slayer is getting a new assignment
1. Prologue

Title: Through the dark  
Author: Mayrose  
Status: Multichapter, Incomplete.  
Rating: PG- 15  
Summary: The Slayer is getting a new assignment.  
Spoilers: Anything from Buffy season one to seven. And Supernatural season one to four.  
Disclaimer: Supernatural and all related characters are copyright Eric Kripke, Kripke Enterprises & The CW Network. No infringement intended. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters are copyright Joss Whedon and ME. No infringement intended.

**Prologue**

"_It's always gotta be the blood"_

He watched as the slayer finally made her way to the top of the tower. The funny little guy that had just thrown the bleached vampire over the edge seemed be looking forward to fighting her. Seeing as he had just cut up the slayer's kid sister, Whistler really wouldn't want to be in his shoe…

Huh. She'd just pushed him of the tower with barely a glance. The balance demon would have laughed at that had he not known what had happened to the blond this past year. What would have happened after this. And what was going to happen.

"_Summers blood"__  
_

Army boy decided to pay to become vampire chow, blaming it on her being distant, and then giving the slayer an ultimatum and finally leaving town. Little sis turned out not to be her kid sister but a big glowing ball of energy, that had the power to destroy worlds and was coveted by an insane hell goddess. Then dear old mom kicks the bucket.

Add to that slayer duty and a stalking vampire, it would be enough to make anyone crack. It was enough to make Whistler feel sorry for her.

And then there was that little surprise the Powers had in store for her.

"_The monks made her out of me"__  
_

If the Powers did nothing, what would have happened was that the slayer would have died, and therefore, restored order to this world. It was not meant to have two slayers.

Unfortunately the redheaded witch would then get it into her head that she could screw around with the natural order, and bring her best friend back to life. This would be bad on several levels. First the slayer would be stripped of her reward, namely peace. And that kind of trauma scars the soul. Second it would completely screw up the Balance between good and evil, because it would create a loophole for the First, and ultimately force the slayer to awaken all of the potentials. The amount of evil that would have to be unleashed to restore the Balance was mind-blowing. So the Powers decided to do something about it.

They decided to send her somewhere. Somewhere out of the witch's reach. An alternate world that only had human champions and a war about to break out. A place that could definitely use the help of the longest living slayer.

He felt sorry for the poor bastard who had to deliver the message of her new assignment.

Oh, it was almost time. The slayer was currently leading her injured little sister away from the edge of the tower, but it was already too late. The blood had started to flow, the portal already opening, and the only way to stop it was to make the blood stop flowing.

The slayer didn't seem to want to accept this and kept walking, but there was no way she didn't feel that spark. Finally the kid made her stop, and they started arguing.

Whistler could pinpoint the exact moment when it all clicked for the slayer.

"_Death is your gift"__  
_

He watched as she gave her speech to the kid, and hoped she could follow her own advice about living.

And there was the swan-dive. Whistler had to hand it to her, she was graceful, but then again most slayers were. He winced at the amount of pain he saw in her face, but it would be over soon.

There. She did it. The world was safe once again.

Little sis slowly made her way down the tower and arrived at the sight of the 'Scooby gang' surrounding the broken body of her sister.

He'd give them time to grieve, but then he would do what he came to do. He'd tell them to leave the slayer be, that she was in a better place and not to be disturbed. Not that they could reach her even if they wanted to.

They'd eventually get the dark slayer out of 'retirement' and move on with their lives. They were a strong bunch, the slayer had taught them well.

"Good luck, kid" Whistler said, before he turned around and walked away.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: I know 'Buffy going through the portal and ending up in a different world'-thing has been done to death, but I wanted to take a crack at it anyway.  
Anyway it's my first story so let me know what you think.

~Mayrose


	2. Nobody Home

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the vampire slayer nor Supernatural.

**Chapter one**

"_The hardest thing in this world is to live in it."_

Buffy awoke in the darkness with gasp of someone who had been underwater just a little too long. Where was she? Was Dawn alright? Did she close the portal? Was she… dead?

She didn't feel dead.

She tried to move around but found that she couldn't. When she tried to sit up she banged her head against something and when she tried to move her arms and legs they met with similar resistance. She seemed to be in some kind of box. That was human-shaped. And had padding. Oh, god.

No. No way. There was no possible way she was where she thought she was. She was not buried inside a coffin! Panic was starting to make its presence known. Did her friends put her here? Did they think she was dead?

Well, obviously, or she wouldn't have woken up inside a coffin.

Okay, first things first. She had to get out of here. Buffy was pretty sure oxygen was going to become an issue. This was going to suck. Big time.

Buffy started to rip away all of the padding in front of her. Okay, easy part done. Now came the hard part. The wooden shell of the casket. Even with her slayer strength it was still a challenge.

When she finally broke through, she held her breath and started digging her way out. It seemed to take forever. But then, finally, she could feel her hand break free. First came her arms and then her head was out and she was breathing sweet fresh air. She suddenly found herself having a grudging respect for vampires. Crawling out of your own grave? Not fun.

Buffy looked around while she pulled the rest of her body out of the ground, still a little freaked out. Yep, she was in a cemetery. But it wasn't one she recognized. And after patrolling those grounds for five years, she knew Sunnydale's cemeteries like the back of her hand. Did that mean she wasn't in Sunnydale anymore?

Buffy then caught sight of her headstone and froze.

Elizabeth Anne Summers  
1981 – 2001  
_Beloved Daughter  
You shall be cherished in our memories._

Okay, not what she'd pictured for her headstone. Not that she spent time picturing what her headstone would look like, but this was weird, even for her. And Elizabeth? Where the hell had that come from? She'd always been Buffy. Was this some kind of sick joke?

When she found out who was behind this, they were in for some major ass-kicking.

Now for the second order of business. Find out where she was and contact her friends. Giles would be proud of how calm she was being. She wondered if they were alright. If someone had managed to do this to her, the slayer, who knows what they had done to the rest of the scoobies. And what was the point of this anyway? How, if they had the power to do this, did they not know that they were going to have one very pissed off slayer on their hands? Did they simply not care?

That was a troubling thought. And with it came anger. Couldn't she get a freaking break!? This past year had been the worst year of her life, and considering all the crap that came with being the slayer, that was saying something. She had just defeated Glory! A real life hell goddess! And now she had to deal with something else!?

Buffy finally reached the exit of Shadow Hill Cemetery when she noticed that she was covered head to toe in dirt. She sighed. "Great."

She crossed the street and walked till she found a gas station. On the way she started to figure out where she was. It appeared to be L.A.. How had she gotten here? Starting to get extremely frustrated and ignoring the looks she was getting, she went into the restroom. When she saw herself in the mirror, she stopped, and stared.

Yes, she was completely covered in dirt, but that's not what shocked her. Her hair! Her hair was chopped off till right above her shoulders! Definitely not as long as she remembered it being. Somebody had cut her hair!

This. Meant. War.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Buffy noticed she was also wearing what had, at one point, probably been a white dress. Only it was now a weird brown/beige-y colour. Seeing as there wasn't much she could do about the dress, she focused on cleaning herself up.

There. That was much better. At least it seemed to be dark out, so the dress wouldn't be noticed too much.

Time to go home.

~~~~********************~~~~~

The next morning found Buffy in a library near her old house in L.A. and completely dumbfounded. She had tried to find Angel and his gang hoping he could help get her home. Only to find absolutely no trace of him anywhere at all. She'd also tried Cordelia, no luck, and even Wesley. She'd even looked in the sewers! Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. It was like they had all just disappeared.

Then she'd borrowed someone's cell phone and started calling her friends. All she got was the message that these numbers were 'out of service'. Even the number to her own house! So she went to the library, started channeling her inner-Willow and came upon a shocking fact.

There was no record of there ever being a town called Sunnydale.

That had Buffy staring at the computer screen for a few minutes. Afterwards she started looking up people. Rupert Giles, no record. Willow Rosenberg, no record. Alexander Harris, no record. Tara Mclay, no record. Cordelia Chase, no record!

She'd then tried finding anything about Angelus, spike and even Darla and Drusilla. They had been pretty notorious from their little rampage through Europe. But again she found absolutely nothing!

Then Buffy got an idea and she looked up Elizabeth Anne Summers, and was very confused by the results.

Elizabeth Anne Summers had been your normal average teenage student at Hemery High, just like Buffy had been.

She had then been admitted to an asylum after burning down her high school gym.

This had happened to Buffy as well. Her parents hadn't believed her when she'd told them the reason for burning it down. That vampires had crashed the dance and outnumbered her. Her father had been the one to admit her, and after a few weeks Buffy had stopped trying to convince people that vampires were real. That she was the slayer.

They'd released her after a few months and that was when she had decided to stop being the slayer. At least until Giles and the scoobies convinced her otherwise.

Except Elizabeth hadn't been released and had died about three months ago. Suicide. Her parents hadn't divorced, and there also seemed to be no mention of a younger sibling. No mention of Dawn.

Dawn. The Key. The Key that was supposed to lower the walls separating dimensions. The portal she had jumped into…

Was it... Possible? No. But there was no other explanation she could think of.

Buffy was in an alternate world.

It also appeared that she was in her counterpart's body. Which was beyond gross, considering 'Elizabeth' had been dead for about three months. Buffy decided not to think about that anymore. But it would explain the hair. And the lack of some of her scars. Mostly the ones she had received after she and her mother had moved to Sunnydale. Including the bite marks she'd gotten from Angel and Dracula.

It all sounded so.. science fiction-y. Xander and Willow would have gone nuts. Except there were no Xander and Willow. And no Giles. Or Dawn. Or Tara and Anya. Or even Spike. She was all alone. In a world that could be completely different than her own. What if she was in that world that didn't have shrimp?

Okay, she was officially panicking.

Forcefully calming herself down, Buffy started thinking. She had been on her own before. After she'd sent An…. after that whole thing with Acathla. She could do it again. She would get a job. Save up some money and try to find some answers. Try to find a way home.

Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

~~~~********************~~~~

It had been a year and a half since she came up with that plan. She had gone to every psychic she could find. It was easy to tell the real ones from the fake. The real ones seemed to know that she was from 'far away'. But they all said the same thing. There was nothing she could do. She was stuck here.

One of them, a woman named Missouri, had said that there was a darkness about Buffy. She'd also had another message for her. "You're in for a long ride, Slayer." And after making the woman swear she would never mention the slayer to anyone ever again, Buffy had quickly left.

Buffy was now settled in Palo Alto, California. She hadn't wanted to be near L.A. anymore, but she hadn't wanted to leave California either. She had cried about never being able to see her friends and Dawnie ever again. But after grieving, anger had quickly followed. So Buffy tried to do what she would normally do when she was upset back in Sunnydale. She went patrolling. It was then that Buffy hit a small snag. She couldn't find anything to beat the crap out of.

The only vampire she had come across, so far, had been that one vamp in Texas. When she had been looking for a psychic named Rose McGee. It had come as a complete shock, that when she had stabbed the vampire with her stake, it hadn't turned to dust. In fact stabbing it in the heart had only seemed to piss it off. So she tried the ever effective cutting off the head. This fortunately worked. However the body didn't turn to dust, and therefore helpfully clean itself up.

But her senses had clearly indicated that this was a vampire. Maybe it was the fact that she was in a different world?

And that thought had never stopped being weird.

It was after she had hidden the body behind some bushes, that realized she hadn't been as alone as she had thought. Hiding, rather poorly, behind some trees were two of the most annoying people she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting. Ed and Henry. Or Harry. Or whatever. They had been at the cemetery that night to film ghosts. They were apparently 'ghost hunters'.

After approximately 5 minutes she was done trying to convince them to leave the whole thing alone and, considering they'd already seen her use her slayer strength, proceeded to introduce mister Camera with mister Ground and the lovely miss Boot. And after having threatened bodily harm should they follow her, she had left to find the psychic.

There didn't seem to be that many demons around. In fact if it hadn't been for that one vamp, Buffy would have been convinced that there were no demons in this world. Now normally that would have made for a happy Buffy. Except that she was grieving and pissed off and lacking an outlet. And then there were the dreams.

Buffy was pretty sure they were slayer dreams, but they felt a little off. She kept dreaming about a blond woman, late twenties/early thirties, in a white dress or nightgown. It was kind of hard to tell. What with the woman being on fire and all. She always seemed to be screaming, her mouth forming an 'O'. but she could never hear a sound. The dream always ended when a flame seemed to shoot out at Buffy. And she always woke up in a cold sweat.

"Oi, Buffy! Come here, will ya?" a gruff voice called out. Buffy snapped out of her musings to see Jim, her boss, wave her over. After coming to Palo Alto she had done the same thing she had when she was in L.A. and got a job in a diner. Considering she had no papers and that 'Elizabeth' was officially dead, she couldn't do much else. It paid the rent though.

Jim was standing at table six with a blond that had long curly hair and what seemed to be a new waitress outfit. Ah, a newbie. She seemed like a nice girl, with bright eyes and a large smile. She also seemed to be about Buffy's age. It would be nice to have another girl around here. Jim's diner was mostly employed with Jim's family members, who were either too old to be considered 'girl', or male. Not that she was an outcast, they all seemed to like her and treated her like family. But it would be a nice change.

"What's up, Jim?" Buffy asked in that perky voice that seemed to annoy Matt, one of the cooks. He was standing behind Jim and was currently scowling at her.

Buffy smirked. Annoying Matt had become a favourite pastime for her. It was almost as much fun as ticking off Giles. Almost. The smirk fell away. God, she missed them.

"I want you to show the new kid around, where to find everything… ya know the drill." Jim said with an amused glint in his eyes. He always seemed to enjoy Buffy messing around with his nephew's temper. The guy was just too uptight. "I gotta start preparing orders."

"Sure thing."And with that statement, Jim left and headed towards the kitchen. Buffy turned towards the other blond girl and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Buffy Summers."

There hadn't been any records of a Buffy Summers anywhere. And really. How common was a name like Buffy anyway? So she had decided to keep her real name.

The blond smiled that bright smile of hers and replied. "Hi, I'm Jessica. Jessica Moore."

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: Let me know what you guys think ^^

~Mayrose


	3. Everything Burns

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the vampire slayer or Supernatural.

**Chapter two**

"Buffy!"

"No!"

Sigh.

"You can't keep me here forever."

"Try me."

Jess tried once again to wriggle her way out of the other blonde's grip, but for such a tiny thing, Buffy was surprisingly strong. She was sitting on the floor of the apartment, in dark blue jeans and a white top, with her arms firmly wrapped around Jess's legs, wearing a very pouty face. And not budging an inch. Just a few hours ago said floor had been filled with boxes. All containing the things Jess would need in her new apartment.

All that was currently missing from her new apartment was her. Her and the tall figure that was standing in the doorway, leading to the kitchen. Jess turned with a helpless expression towards the figure. The reason why she was moving. Her boyfriend. Sam Winchester.

He was wearing a dark green shirt and a pair of faded jeans, with black converse shoes. He had short wavy brown hair and bangs just above his eyes.

He looked like he was highly amused at the scene in front of him, and seemed content to just keep watching the show. No help there then. Traitor.

She'd get him back later.

First she had to deal with this sudden extra appendage. Her soon to be ex-roommate.

It had been two years since she had met Buffy at the diner. They'd talked shoes and fashion and whatever else they could think of, and become fast friends. Jess didn't have that many friends here yet, and the blonde's bright personality was easy to like.

There was one subject, Jess had discovered, that Buffy didn't like to talk about though, and that was family. Sure, she had shared some anecdotes about her life, and Jess had learned that Buffy had a mother and a sister and some friends that she considered to be as good as family, but she had noticed that the blonde only spoke about them in past tense. Jess had asked her about it once.

"They're gone." She'd said, and Buffy's face had held such sorrow when she'd uttered those words that Jess had never brought it up again.

Jess had been working at Jim's for a couple of months, when she had just finished moving to Palo Alto and decided it would be better for her financial state if she got a roommate. She had offered a room to Buffy, who had lived in a tiny little apartment a few blocks away from this one. The blonde had gladly accepted, and they'd been living together ever since. At least until today.

When Jess had first announced that she was moving out to go live with Sam, Buffy had been thrilled. Only now that Jess was actually leaving, she seemed to have had a slight change of heart.

"I'll give you some chocolate-chip cookies if you let me go.." She tried one last time.

Buffy actually seemed to be considering this, and after slight pause, tightened her grip and replied.

"Nope."

Jess swore she heard a snicker come from the direction of the kitchen, and sent a glare towards her, so not helpful, boyfriend.

This was going to take a while.

~~~~********************~~~~

Sam was in hell.

Time seemed to drag on forever. Hours going by at a snail's pace. The scorching heat had slightly burned his face, and he was growing tired at having to move his heavy load from point A to B.

"How about this one?" A voice, he vaguely recognized as his girlfriend's, asked.

"No, it doesn't go with anything." Came the reply.

He didn't understand why he had agreed to this. He'd had a sense of foreboding when they'd asked him to come. One of those feelings that screamed _'run for it!'._ But he had agreed, and now he was stuck here underneath a pile of clothes, while Jess- who'd seemed like such a nice person when he'd met her- and her best friend were trying to choose between the pink top and the green one.

This was payback for not helping Jess when Buffy had decided that she wasn't going to let Jess move out, he just knew it!

Finally the blonde haired duo seemed to take pity on him, and they decided to go get a few drinks and call it a day. Sam didn't really mind all that much though. This was normal. No staying in crappy motels, eating nothing but junk food. No more orders being barked at him. No more nightmares come to life accompanied by the smell of rotting corpses.

He felt slightly guilty when he remembered his brother's face, but just because Dean had decided to follow dad's every order didn't mean Sam had to. Dad had been on that quest for vengeance for over two decades! They weren't ever going to find the damn thing. Mom wouldn't have wanted them to waste their lives! So Sam went to college. And now he had a girlfriend and friends. Something that had been out of his reach before, because they moved around so much.

Life was good.

"So, Sam, had fun today?" Buffy asked with a smirk from across the table, sipping a coke. Sam vaguely remembered her saying something about alcohol and Buffy not being a good combination. He hadn't caught the whole sentence though, as he was still getting used to the way she spoke. Sam was almost sure it some sort of foreign dialect. And it seemed to be contagious 'cause he had caught Jess speaking it a few times.

Buffy was wearing a light green dress that had red flowers at the bottom, and reached just below the knees. She was also wearing a silver cross, which struck Sam as odd, considering he knew she wasn't religious. In fact now that he thought about it, Sam didn't know all that much about Buffy. She didn't talk much about her past. He wouldn't pry though. He hadn't shared that much about himself either. "You looked a little tense at the end there."

"It was fine." He answered blandly. He was hiding the next time the word 'shopping' was mentioned though.

A hand went to his left arm, while a head found its way onto his shoulder. "Don't worry, ya won't have to come with us anymore in the future." Jess said, and Sam found himself relieved. He could handle spirits and monsters no problem, but shopping with these two?

Sam shuddered.

~~~~********************~~~~

"Cheese?"

"Um, no thanks." Buffy waved the weird man with the platter of cheese away. He looked familiar somehow..

She saw something from the corner of her eye but when she turned her head, she suddenly found herself in Sam and Jessie's apartment. Jessie was wearing a white nightgown and was sitting at the kitchen table. She seemed to be eating some cookies. The strange man with the platter had disappeared.

"Hey, Buffy. What are ya doing here?" Jessie asked and stood up from the table.

"I don't know." She answered. Hadn't she just been in her bedroom?

"You think you know.." A voice suddenly sounded. A very familiar voice. But it wasn't possible. Buffy turned around and her eyes went wide, mouth falling open.

"Tara?"

Tara was standing in the middle of the living room, wearing a dark red t-shirt with long sleeves and a dark green skirt that reached all the way down to her feet. And she wasn't alone. There were three men surrounding her. They seemed like they were from Africa and were wearing robes of various colours. They were also wearing a number of beaded necklaces and had cloths tied around their heads. All three of them had long staffs. The man in the middle was holding some kind of box.

"..What's to come.." Tara continued as if she hadn't heard Buffy. "..What you are."

Suddenly all three men looked to a spot next to Buffy, and when she turned her head she was surprised to find the first slayer crouching next to her. The face-painted woman couldn't seem to stand still and looked to be weary of the men. Buffy grew slightly worried. Anything that could scare the first slayer was something to keep an eye on.

Buffy looked towards Jessie to warn her to stay away from the men, when she noticed that her best friend had disappeared. "Jessie?!"

"You haven't even begun."

Tara's voice turned her attention back towards the strange group of people. Her old friend didn't seem to register the presence of the strange men standing behind her.

"What does that mean?" This hadn't been the first time she had heard those words. In fact, this was the second time Tara had been the one to utter them. But Buffy had no idea what they meant.

Suddenly Buffy felt something wet splash her shoulder, and when she put her hand on it, it came back red. Blood. She noticed Tara and the three men look upwards towards the ceiling. Buffy's eyes followed.

Fire! The ceiling was on fire!

Buffy woke up with a gasp. Her pajamas and sheets were drenched in sweat. '_That was one freaky dream'_. And it was definitely a slayer one. But what did it mean? It didn't make any sense to her.

Buffy rarely dreamt about that other woman anymore, the woman that was on fire, those dreams had stopped a few months after she'd met Jessie. Only to be replaced by even weirder dreams. Those three men often made an appearance. So did the first slayer. But she was usually surrounded by a cloud of black smoke that then retreated into that small box that the man in the middle had been carrying. Fire was also a big theme.

When Buffy woke up from those dreams it would usually be between two and five AM, and it'd be impossible to go back to sleep. On those nights she would either go patrolling- even though she didn't need to, it was oddly calming- or she would spend her time reading Jessie's books or reading up on the supernatural. Most of it was probably crap, but some of it might be useful in the future. Who knows what they had in this world.

Buffy sighed and looked at her alarm clock. Huh. It was seven o'clock already. Much later than she was used to waking up after one of those dreams. Shrugging it off, Buffy got up and got dressed. She was supposed to come early to the diner today anyway, so she could help with the decorations. And after making sure her costume was ready for tonight, she left her apartment to go to work.

Buffy had always loved Halloween.

It was already a year after Jessie had left and moved in with Sam. Buffy'd had to get a second job so she could afford to keep living in her apartment. She worked in a bar near the university. She hadn't wanted a new roommate, and she didn't really mind the extra work. Without slayer duty, Dawn duty and schoolwork, it left Buffy with a lot of free time. Being without the scoobies had lead Buffy to realize just how anti-social she had become. It was hard for her to connect with people that knew nothing about the supernatural world. The fact that she couldn't talk that much about herself also wasn't good for the friend-making process, so the only people she could really call friends were Jessie, Sam and some people that worked at the diner. It saddened Buffy to realize just how much being the slayer had influenced her. And not for the good.

But not tonight though. Nope, tonight she, Jessie, Sam and a few others were going to party and celebrate Sam's LSAT scores.

Not only had Jessie managed to snag someone who fit the bill of tall, dark and handsome, but she had also managed to get someone who could add 'freakishly smart' to the list. But Buffy was happy for her best friend, Sam was good for her.

~~~~********************~~~~

Jess walked out of the bedroom in a hurry, wearing a nurse's outfit, and trying to get her earrings to actually stay in her ear. "Sam, get a move on would ya? We were supposed to be there like, fifteen minutes ago. Sam! Ya comin' or what?"

Jess turned around just in time to see Sam poke his head around the doorframe. A knock sounded from the front door. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. It'll be fun!" Jess replied, sounding slightly exasperated ,but with a smile on her face as she started turning towards the door. "Besides, ya know Buffy is going to drag your ass down, personally, if we keep her waiting much longer. She _loves_ Halloween. Speakin' of which, where is your costume?"

Sam scoffed. "Buffy may love it, but you know how I feel about Halloween."

Jess just rolled her eyes and opened the door. Buffy was standing on the other side. Arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. Normally, this would have made an intimidating sight, despite the fact that she was sh… the s-word. The effect was slightly ruined, however, because of her best friend's attire. She was wearing a Daphne-outfit, from Scooby doo. Jess just couldn't find it in herself to be intimidated by someone who said 'jinkies' in the face of danger.

"What is taking you so long?" Her voice was lacking any real anger though, so Jess knew she was off the hook. She looked at the clock on the wall. Whoops. Looked like she and Sam had been a little later than fifteen minutes.. "And _where_ is your costume?" Buffy asked looking at Sam. Jess smirked.

Sam just sighed and looked at the ceiling, as if asking it 'why me?'.

~~~~********************~~~~

Jessie raised her glass and said "So here's to Sam, and his awesome LSAT-victory."

"Hooray!" Buffy exclaimed, and clicked her glass against Jess's glass and then Sam's.

Sam looked faintly embarrassed at the praise. "Alright, alright, you guys, it's not that big a deal." Buffy snorted.

"He acts all humble, but he scored a 174." Jessie countered, proud of her boyfriend's accomplishment. And with good reason, from what Buffy had gathered. Sam had a good chance of getting in to a good law school.

"Is that good?" The question came from the person sitting next to her. Chris, she thought his name was. He was a friend of Sam's. If she wasn't mistaken he went to Stanford as well.

"Scary good."

Chris turned towards Sam and said "See there you go, you are first-round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want."

Sam seemed to perk up a bit and replied "Actually I got an interview here. Monday. If it goes okay I think I got a shot at a full ride next year."

"And again I say, hooray!" Buffy took another shot. Suddenly the chair seemed wobble a bit, and she had a slight problem staying upright. Stupid chair.

"Are you drunk already? Ya only had a few glasses!" Chris looked genuinely shocked, as if he didn't think it was possible to get drunk so fast. And you would think that with slayer metabolism it would take more to get her drunk. But alas. Now where was she? Oh yeah.

"I told you, Buffy and alcohol are very non-mixy!"

Jessie, having heard this kind of conversation before, turned her attention back to Sam. "Hey, it's gonna go great with your interview."

"It better."

"So, how does it feel to be the golden boy in your family?"Chris asked after a pause. And Buffy tried not to show she was interested, but she was curious. She'd never heard Sam mention his family.

"Ah, they don't know." The answer surprised her. They didn't know? How could they not know? Jessie didn't seem surprised however, in fact she looked sympathetic.

"Don't know? I would be gloating! Why not?"

"Yeah, I totally would too!" Buffy couldn't help but add.

"Cause we're not exactly the Brady's." Even so, how bad was his relationship with his family, that he wouldn't want to share his scores? Surely they'd be happy that he was doing alright, right?

"And I'm not exactly the Huxtables." Chris finally answered. After seeing the look on Sam's face however, he seemed to get the message, and dropped the matter. " More shots?"

"No. no."Sam tried to stop Chris, but he was already gone, and heading towards the bar.

Jessie didn't seem to want to tolerate any doubts or worries tonight and grabbed Sam's arm to get his attention. "No, Sam, seriously. I'm proud of you and your gonna knock 'em dead on Monday and you're gonna get that full ride. I know it."

This seemed to be the right thing to say, as Sam was soon smiling again. "What would I do without you?"

"Crash and burn." Jessie said with a smile right before leaning in and kissing Sam on the lips.

Aw, wasn't that cute. But after a short while Buffy'd had enough and said "But you'd gross me out less."

~~~~********************~~~~

Buffy was in Sam and Jessie's apartment, having a shower with the radio on. She was keeping Jessie company until Sam finally came back home from his little hunting trip.

Apparently, his older brother had broken into the apartment and Sam, thinking it was an intruder, had attacked him. The reason for this 'visit', was because their father had gone hunting and the brother, Dean, needed Sam's help to find him and get him back.

According to Jessie, Sam had acted fidget-y and weird since his brother had shown up, but seemed to want to put family issues aside when it became clear his dad might be in trouble. He'd said he'd be back by Monday for his interview, which was tomorrow. But it was getting pretty late and Buffy wasn't sure Sam would make it. This was his whole future in one conversation, so it was pretty important that he not miss it. But if there was one thing Buffy got, it was that family came first. What Buffy didn't get was why Jessie wouldn't let her have _one_ measly cookie.

"_oh, and it's raining again. Loud on your car, like bullets on tin."_ Buffy started singing along with the song that was currently playing.

Suddenly she felt a deep cold chill run down her spine, and her heartbeat speeding up.

What the hell?

Buffy then thought she heard a noise come from the other room, but she couldn't hear it well because of the music. Grabbing a bathrobe and turning the radio off, she listened.

"YESS, NO!"It was muffled by the wall, but Buffy thought she recognized it as..Sam?

"SAM!" That wasn't Sam.

It sounded like there was trouble, and, was that heat coming from the other side of the door? Did this have to do with the chill she felt earlier?

Buffy tried desperately to open the bathroom door, but the lock wouldn't budge! Eventually she gave up on the lock, and started kicking the door down. It opened on the second kick.

Fire! There was fire everywhere! And most of it seemed to be coming from the ceiling! Just like in her dreams! And was that..? No! "JESSIE!!" Jessie was pinned to the ceiling, right in the center of the fire! "JESSIE! NO!"

Despite seeing that there was no way to get to her best friend, Buffy tried to step forwards. Only to stop at seeing a figure standing right in front of her. The flames and smoke were making it hard to see, and Buffy couldn't quite make out who the figure was. "Sam?! Is that you?"

The figure only lifted its arm, and flicked his wrist.

Suddenly Buffy found herself flying backwards and crashing through the window.

'_Jess__ie…_'Was the last thought that crossed the slayer's mind before the world went dark.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: So, no, Buffy couldn't save Jessica. This was planned from the beginning, as I wanted Buffy to have a reason for hunting the YED, while having a connection to the Winchesters. Sad, because I liked Jessica. Anyway, the song Buffy was singing along with was 'raining again' by Moby.

Enjoy the chapter :)

~Mayrose


	4. Keep Breathing

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Supernatural.

**Chapter three**

A red mini-cooper entered the parking lot of Stanford Hospital and parked in a spot near the entrance. A ginger-haired woman with bangs and a long ponytail stepped out of the car.

Melody Cole was an intern that had just started at the hospital a few months ago, and already she was in the process of witnessing a medical miracle.

Two days ago a woman in her early twenties had been found by some firefighters near a building that the squad had been trying to keep from completely burning down. As far as they could tell the woman had jumped through a window of the apartment that the fire had originated from. Presumably, to get away from the flames.

Jane Doe -for she'd had no ID on her- had been suffering from smoke inhalation, a couple of second degree burns, a concussion, a broken arm, bruised ribs and quite a severe stabwound from when she'd landed badly on one of the broken glass shards from the window.

To be honest Melody was amazed the woman was still alive.

But that wasn't the miracle. No, the miracle was that the wounds were healing at a _rapid_ pace. The lungs were now clear. The burns healed. The ribs fine.

The break of her arm looked like it was a week old and the stabwound was healing nicely as well. It had everyone stumped. It also had them keeping a close eye on the woman, so they could perhaps publish the case in a medical journal.

Melody opened her locker and changed into her scrubs. The great thing was, Melody herself was one of the doctors working on the case, and so had unlimited access to the patient that was quickly becoming the latest news of the hospital.

After checking in with the resident that was in charge of her, they started making their rounds with the rest of the interns that were in her group. Last stop was the mystery girl.

"So… Cole, why don't you tell…." The resident suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence and was standing in the doorway leading to the mystery patient's room, with her mouth open.

All of the intern's moved as one to try and look over the resident's shoulder to sneak a peek at what had the, normally stoic, physician doing an uncanny impression of a fish.

Soon, everyone joined in with the act.

The mystery patient's bed was missing it's occupant.

~~~~********************~~~~

Buffy hated hospitals. No. She detested them.

Her dear cousin, Celia, had died in one when Buffy had been only eight years old. The asylum, while not being quite the same as a normal hospital, definitely hadn't improved Buffy's opinion of them. Mom being admitted to one when she got sick had just been the final straw, and Buffy had vowed to herself that she would try to do everything she could to stay away from them.

Unfortunately, that plan didn't seem to be going so well, seeing as she had just woken up in one.

Her arm seemed to be broken, considering it was in a cast, and her head hurt like a bitch. She also seemed to be slightly nauseous, which lead Buffy to the conclusion that she had a concussion. And her back hurt a little as well.

The slightly disconcerting thing was, she couldn't remember what the hell she had done to land herself in the hospital. The last thing she remembered, she was walking towards Jessie's place to keep her company, after Sam had left. Short-term memory loss wasn't that uncommon with concussions –and wasn't it sad that she knew that from experience- and she could only hope she'd get her memories back soon.

But first things first. She had to get some clothes. Hospital gowns did not make for good warm clothing, especially in winter.

Buffy reached up and felt along the edge above the doorframe of her apartment. Finally she found the object of her search, grabbed the key and opened the door that lead to her nice, and more importantly, warm apartment.

After a quick shower, she pulled on her white sweater, black pants and her black leather boots.

After putting her hair up in a ponytail, which reached just above the shoulder blades, she noticed that she had some messages on her answering machine. Probably Jessie wondering what the hell had happened to her. After looking at her calendar she had found out that she was missing three days. Jessie was probably worried sick.

_Beep."Hey, Buffy__, it's me, Sam" _ Something about Sam's voice made her stiffen. He sounded so.. heartbroken. _"Listen, I hate to do this on the phone, but you weren't at home and I couldn't find you anywhere, but… you were Jess's best friend and I thought you should hear it from me." _A pause. ..Were?_ "Jess is… There… was an accident, and Jess, she's dead. There was a fire, and it burned down the apartment, and.. Jess didn't make it."_

Buffy felt cold and numb. '_Jessie..'_

"_Listen, Buffy… I can't stay here anymore. I hate to do it like this, but I'm leaving with my brother __for a while." _A sigh._ "Take care."_

Suddenly, everything came flooding back. The shower. Hearing something… Sam. Fire! The ceiling! Jessie!

"No…" It was barely louder than a whisper.

Buffy couldn't breathe. Her lungs couldn't seem to fill up with enough air, and her heart felt like it was shattered into a million pieces. No! not again! How could her life be turned upside down again! It wasn't fair!

The next message was Jim, he'd heard about the fire and Buffy was to take a few days off. The message barely registered as Buffy was already grabbing her coat and her key's, and had left the building before the message ended.

It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true!

The time it took to get to Jessie's apartment had never seemed so long.

At a passing glance, Buffy wouldn't have noticed that there was something wrong with the building. The outside looked perfectly fine. But when she looked closer, she noticed the black frames of the windows, and the fact that they were all missing their glass. The damage seemed to have been limited to the apartment where the fire had originated from. And if you looked closely you could tell that everything inside was burnt black. Buffy ignored the police tapes and entered the building.

Any hope that Jessie was still alive, that it had all been some horrible mistake, was dashed the moment Buffy saw the state of the inside of the apartment.

Everything was black. Very few things seemed to have survived the flames.

The bedroom was the worst. There was absolutely nothing left. The only part that wasn't completely charred, was a spot right above the bed. It was oval-shaped. Big enough for a person.

"Jessie." she sobbed. And finally broke down on the floor.

After a few minutes, she managed to pull herself together and Buffy started thinking.

Jessie pinned to the ceiling. Herself thrown through the window with a mere flick of the wrist. Whatever had done this, it had been supernatural.

And it was going to pay dearly for this.

Buffy hadn't done much slaying since she'd arrived in this world, almost 4 years ago. There hadn't been that much to kill. Granted, she hadn't really looked for any evil, but now that was over. It was time the demon community of this world learn that they should be very, very afraid of her.

But why had this thing targeted Jessie? Buffy couldn't think of any particular reason as she got up and started walking towards the livingroom, other than just because it was evil and it could. But that didn't make any sense. Buffy was now certain that, that chill she had felt right before, had been the result of whatever that thing was, using its powers. But one thing was very clear to the slayer. Whatever it was, it was powerful. And old. And in Buffy's experience, those types of beings never did anything just because they could.

Buffy was interrupted from her musings, as she entered the livingroom and heard a crunch come from underneath her boot. She looked down and saw a broken and slightly charred pictureframe. Inside was a picture she recognized as Sam's parents. Sam's dad was almost completely burned off but when Buffy caught sight of Sam's mother, Buffy froze.

She'd never noticed before, but now that Buffy was _really_ looking at the picture she recognized the blonde woman instantly. It was the same woman that Buffy had been dreaming about.

The one that had always been on fire…

She remembered vaguely that Sam had once mentioned that his mother had died when he was young and that he didn't remember her much. Had his mom died the same way Jessie had? Was this thing after Sam? Why?

This required good ol' fashioned research.

~~~~********************~~~~

It was Friday.

The sun had only been up a few hours, already evaporating the morning dew, creating a slight fog that covered almost everything in the cemetery.

There was only one visitor this early in the morning. The 24 year old blonde was standing in front of a grave that was about a month old. She was wearing blue jeans, black leather boots and a black coat that reached till her knees. Her long hair was up in a messy bun, her bangs covering her eyes.

The blonde's face appeared blank and emotionless, but when you looked closely you could see tears making their way down her cheeks. The woman made no move to wipe them away and continued to stare blankly at the headstone of one Jessica Lee Moore.

It had been four weeks since Jessie had died and Buffy had learned more about Sam in those few weeks than she had in the two years that she'd known him.

Samuel Winchester was the son of John and Mary Winchester, younger brother to one Dean Winchester. When Sam was less than a year old, a fire had broken out in his nursery and had claimed the life of his mother. Exactly 22 years before Jessie had been killed in the same way.

Something was targeting the woman in Sam's life. But why? What could it want with Sam?

It irked Buffy greatly to know that the answer to the identity of the woman in her dreams had been staring her in the face for almost a year. If she had just bothered to look more closely at the picture in her best friend's apartment… she what? Could have figured it out sooner? Could have saved Jessie? There was no way to know that and Buffy knew better than to think of 'what ifs'.

She was having a lot of difficulties figuring out what the hell was behind all of this. There were a lot of things that had an affinity with fire, but she had no way to tell which were real and which were mythical. It was times like these that Buffy hated that there were so little demons and creatures here. If she were back in her world she could grab the nearest demon and beat the information out of it. The demon grapevine in Sunnydale had been more effective than a that of a high school.

But she wasn't in her world, so Buffy was going to go find some psychics again and see if they could help her figure it out. Fortunately she knew which ones to go to now.

But this all meant that she had to travel a bit. And that meant leaving Palo Alto. Which was why she was here, saying goodbye to Jessie. And leaving some flowers -not roses, because 'roses were lame'- next to the smiling face of her best friend.

"I promise, Jessie. I'll find what did this and I'll make it pay."

Slowly she turned around and headed towards the exit. She'd already packed up her stuff, and given up her apartment. Buffy had saved up quite a bit in the three years that she had lived here, so money wasn't going to be a problem for a little while.

She was not going to give up on this one. Whatever this thing was, it was going to die a slow and painful death.

~~~~********************~~~~

Buffy did not want to be here.

She'd been traveling for months. Stopping every now and again when she needed more cash and so had to get a job. But everywhere she went it was the same story as when she had been trying to find a way home. No one could help her.

The psychics in this world sucked!

So, now she was sitting here in her car, looking at the house of one Missouri Mosely. This was one of her last resorts. Which was kinda stupid now that Buffy thought about it. This was the woman that had seemed to know the most about who she was. Plus Missouri lived in the same place as where Sam's mother had died.

It was just that the woman had creeped her out. It was also slightly because the psychic made her feel ten years old, with how little Buffy knew about this world's supernatural community. Plus she always called Buffy 'girl'.

Buffy was startled out of her thoughts by someone knocking on the passengerside door. "Girl, are you gonna come inside, or are ya just gonna sit there all day, starin' at my house?"

Ah, Buffy could feel the years being knocked off already.

"Coming."

Missouri lead Buffy through the front door and into her warmly decorated livingroom. The smell of incense heavy in the air. Buffy didn't mind though. It reminded her of the Magic Box.

"Now, what can I do for ya?"

Buffy reached into her bag and carefully took out a package. When she unwrapped it, it revealed the picture of Sam's parents within its broken frame. Buffy handed it to Missouri, hoping she could get a read on it, and became very interested when the psychic turned pale.

"I need your help."

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: Alright not that much happening in this chapter, but it was needed.  
A big thanks to those who reviewed! ^^

~Mayrose


	5. One Girl Revolution

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Supernatural.

**Chapter four**

"John Winchester, I could just slap you! Why don't you go talk to your children?"

The only thing that kept Missouri from hitting the man on her couch over the head, was the absolute dejection on his face as he kept fingering the ring on his left hand. But that wasn't going to stop her from giving him a piece of her mind. Those boys were completely lost without their father. And Sam worried her a little. She could see so much of John in the boy, the anger, it reminded her of when a certain grieving husband had walked into her house, looking for answers.

"I want to. You have no idea how much I wanna see 'em." She watched as the man's face then changed from sadness to determination. "But I can't. Not yet. Not until I know the truth."

Gone was the clueless law-abiding mechanic, and in its place was a hunter. And a damn good one at that. Missouri was almost sad for the change. But no one stayed in this line of work and remained untouched.

She grew aware of a powerful presence making its way towards her house, and normally it would have been a cause for concern. However Missouri had felt this presence before and instantly recognized who it was.

When she had first felt this powerful energy, almost four years ago, she had immediately prepared for it. Salt on the windows and doors, protection amulets all over the place. She had been surprised when she had opened the door and seen the source of the presence she had felt. It had been a girl. One with blonde, shoulder length hair and a lost look on her face, coupled with determination.

She'd doused the girl's drink with holy water just to be sure. You could never be too careful. The 21 year old hadn't twitched at the salt or the holy water, and the amulets hadn't made a peep. So Missouri had decided to give the girl a chance.

When she had opened herself to the girl's mind, Missouri had nearly fallen out of her chair. She had never come across or heard anything like the blonde's situation before. The psychic had dealt with angry spirits and had read many hunters, but never had she even _considered_ meeting a being from an alternate world. Nothing she knew of, had the kind of power to do such a thing.

Yet there she had been. Sitting across from Missouri waiting to see if she could give her a way home. It had nearly broken her heart when she saw the look on the girl's face after she had told her there was nothing she could do for her.

She could still remember the power that had been flowing from the girl, the nature of it rooted in darkness, when she had given the blonde her message. It had been meant as a friendly warning. But as soon as she had mentioned the girl's title, the blonde had demanded answers. What had she meant by that? How did she know about the slayer?

Missouri hadn't been able to give an answer, and the girl had made her swear not to mention what she knew to anyone. For the blink of an eye, the psychic thought she had seen something in the blonde's eyes. Something old and primal. But it had been gone before she could get a good look at it.

"You! Go wait in the kitchen, I've got somethin' I need to deal with." And suddenly, Missouri found out where John's oldest boy had inherited that look from. Winchesters. "Well? What are ya waitin' for?"

With one last look at Missouri, John left the living room. "And don't even think about leavin'! I'm not done with you yet." She called out after him, and she could see him change his direction towards the kitchen. An irritated look on his face.

When after five minutes the presence still hadn't made its way to the front door, Missouri got up and looked out through the window. There she was, sitting in her car in front of the house. Missouri was startled at the change she could see in the girl. Life obviously hadn't been kind to her.

Whereas before she had looked sad, lost and determined. She now had a look of steel and cold anger. She looked just like the hunter that was in her kitchen. The expression looked odd on a twenty-something year old. There was also hesitation as she glanced at the door of Missouri's house.

After a while the psychic decided enough was enough and headed towards the girl's car. The blonde was so lost in thought she didn't notice Missouri until she knocked on the window.

"Girl, are you gonna come inside, or are ya just gonna sit there all day, starin' at my house?"

Missouri was glad to see the coldness leave the girl's eyes. Sure, it was replaced by annoyance, but at least that was better than that dead, haunted look she had just a minute ago. Now she actually looked her age.

"Coming." She heard the girl mutter.

Missouri led the younger woman into her living room and seated her on the couch where, just a few minutes ago, John Winchester had sat. Luckily the girl seemed to relax a little.

When the psychic had placed herself in her chair she asked "Now, what can I do for ya?"

The girl reached into her brown bag and pulled out a small package. When the blonde unwrapped it, Missouri saw it was a framed picture, but what caught her attention was the state of the thing. Its frame was almost black it was so burned. The picture itself didn't seem to be in great shape either.

When the picture was handed to her, Missouri felt the blood drain from her face. It was a photo of Mary and John Winchester. John was almost completely burned off. But it wasn't just the familiar faces that had her tense. She could feel it. It was much more faint than when she had first felt it at the house. But Missouri would never forget the feel of that horrible energy.

"I need your help." She faintly heard the girl say.

But the psychic was too preoccupied. Where on earth had the girl gotten this?

She decided to find out and stood up and walked over to the blonde, placing a hand on the girl's arm. Missouri didn't much believe in coincidences, especially when it came to the supernatural.

This girl knew Sam. Had known Sam's girlfriend well. And was now out looking for her killer. She didn't appear to know about the boy being a hunter, but she knew something was after him. And she was out to stop it.

An idea started forming in Missouri's head. Wherever this girl had come from, she had been important there. The psychic knew she had been sent here for a reason. John would never go for what she had in mind, but she somehow knew it was the right course of action. Missouri briefly considered getting out her wooden spoon.

"I know what it is your hunting." The girl looked surprised. " And I know someone who has been after the same thing for over twenty years."

The 'slayer' didn't look impressed. "This person has been looking for it for over twenty years!? And they still haven't found it?"

"Girl, you watch what you're saying! Things work differently around here. And John is one of the best hunters there is, so that should tell ya something about how difficult this thing is to track!"

Speak of the devil, he was standing outside in the hallway. That fool. How he had survived being in the marines, Missouri didn't know. That man could never do as he was told.

Apparently, she'd underestimated the girl's senses as, before Missouri had registered what was happening, the blonde had leapt towards the door, grabbed John by his neck and lifted him up against the wall.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop?" Her voice was bubbly and casual, as if she were discussing the weather. If it hadn't been for the look in her eye – and the fact that she had her hand on John's throat- Missouri would have bought the act.

John tried to move, thinking he could easily overpower the girl, and the expression on his face when he found he couldn't move her arm even an inch made Missouri suppress a smirk. When the psychic saw him reach for his gun however, she decided to put a stop to this.

"Slayer, put him down right now!" And the blonde let go, but she shot a dark look towards Missouri for mentioning 'the slayer'.

"Fine." She pouted.

Both of the woman snapped their attention back towards the hunter when they heard a click. John was aiming a gun at the girl. Something she didn't seem to appreciate. Something Missouri didn't appreciate either.

"Missouri, get away from the girl!" He ordered.

"Jonathan Winchester! Put that thing away right now, or I will give you the smackin' of a lifetime!" John glanced at her, confused, but he soon had his full attention back towards his target.

"Wait, John Winchester? As in, _Sam's dad_, John Winchester!?" The blonde looked absolutely shocked. John on the other hand, started looking dangerous. The grip on his gun tightening, knuckles turning white.

"How do know my son!?" He demanded. To the girl's credit, she didn't seem afraid of John, in fact she was starting to look annoyed. Missouri didn't think her house would survive a confrontation between the two standing in her living room.

"She knew Sam's girlfriend." Missouri told John. Knowing the slayer, the girl would say something just to piss John off. "She's hunting the thing that killed her. The thing that killed Mary."

John was quiet for a long time. The gun still aimed at the blonde. Finally he reached into his coat pocket and threw something at the girl, who caught it with her right hand. It was a silver flask. The slayer looked confused.

"What's this?"

"It's holy water." He replied, in a slightly patronizing voice. The girl went from looking confused to incredulous.

"Holy water? Do I look like a vampire to you!? I mean, hello, daylight!" The slayer exclaimed, waving her arm in the general direction of the window. John shared a look with Missouri.

"You're either a crappy hunter or you're a crappy actress, but either way, you're drinkin' that water." John stated. And the girl -who had a very offended look on her face- seeing no other way to convince the man, reluctantly opened the flask and drank its content.

Nothing.

John reluctantly lowered the gun, but he didn't put it away. He turned to Missouri. "What the hell is goin' on?" Not a question.

"You'd best sit down. And try to keep an _open_ mind." Missouri made sure to put an emphasis on 'open'. Convincing John was going to be difficult, and getting the slayer to go along with it… well, she'd chance it.

"John, this is Buffy Summers. She's a slayer." She put a hand up to prevent the girl's protests. "Girl, if you wanna to catch this thing you're goin' to need his help." This seemed to calm her somewhat but it had the opposite effect on John. Honestly, these two. It was like they had no faith in Missouri.

"What do you mean 'my help'? And what's a 'slayer'?" He demanded.

Missouri looked towards the girl. "It's time for you to tell your story, slayer."

~~~~********************~~~~

Oh shit. What the hell was Missouri thinking!? 'Tell your story', as if it was that simple. The only person that knew she was from a different world was the psychic herself, and that was only because the woman had somehow found out. And now she wanted Buffy to tell Sam's dad that she was a vampire slayer from another world? The man who had just minutes ago, pulled a gun on her?

Was she nuts!?

"Are you nuts!?" She echoed her thoughts. "He's not going to believe me."

"Try me." He replied with a level expression on his face.

And now the guy was looking at her for answers! If she told him her story, he was gonna call the men in white coats!

But Missouri had said that this guy had been looking for this thing for over _twenty_ _years_, and Buffy didn't know that much about this world's supernatural side. She could use the help.

Plus this was Sam's father, someone who'd want to protect him probably more than she did. And from what she'd seen so far, he was going to want the whole story or he wouldn't hesitate to ditch her, or worse, if he found out she hadn't been telling him everything. But could she do it? Tell someone she'd just met her whole life story?

Shooting Missouri one last uncertain look, Buffy decided to just go for it.

Sigh. Where to begin?

"Um, well….the vampire slayer is a mystical warrior. Always a girl. When one dies, another is called." She started. "I was called when I was fifteen. Some creepy old guy just walked up to me one day and told me I had a destiny. That I had to fight the things that go bump in the night. That he was my 'watcher', and that 'I was not to tell anyone my secret'. Not even my family."

Buffy gave a, slightly bitter, scoff. "I told him to get lost, and maybe a shrink. But then he brought me to a cemetery and I ended up killing my first vamp. That kind of thing tends to make on a believer."

"How come I've never heard of anythin' like this?" John interrupted, looking skeptical.

Buffy shot him an irritated look. "I'll get to that later."

"A bunch of stuff happens and me, my mom and my sister end up moving to a small town called Sunnydale. I have a new watcher, Giles, and a group of friends that know I'm the slayer. Turns out I'm not that great at being 'secret identity' girl."

"Funnily enough," The sarcasm was hard to miss. "We find out that good ol' Sunnydale is right on top of the hellmouth. An actual gate that, when opened, leads to hell."

"What, you mean a Devil's gate?" John asked, still not looking like he believed her. Boy, she couldn't wait to see his reaction to Glory, the Key and Dawn.

"John, stop interruptin' the poor girl and let her finish!" Missouri scolded him, and luckily he seemed to listen. Buffy gave the psychic a grateful look.

"After five years of battling demons and vampires and everything else the hellmouth could throw at us, we come across something. Something so powerful, it overshadows all others. Glory, she calls herself. And she's looking for something."

"I first meet Glory when she's torturing a monk for information. And after I get my ass handed to me, I barely manage to escape with the monk, who has some interesting he wants to share with me."

"Glory, or the 'Beast', is looking for the Key. The Key is energy, a portal. The monks had to hide it from Glory so they sent it to the slayer. To me. But that's not all. Nope. They had to make sure that I guarded the Key with my life. So, they made it human and sent it to me in the form of my sister."

Buffy's voice had gone soft and distant as she was getting lost in memories. She didn't notice the growing look of disbelief on John's face or the sudden understanding on Missouri's.

"They cast some sort of spell or something, so that me, my mom and everyone who knew me, would think that she'd always been there." Buffy let loose something between a snort and a laugh. "Dawnie didn't even know it herself."

"We called a few of our contacts and they informed us of what we were dealing with. Glorificus. A freakin' hellgoddes. She wanted to use the Key so she could get back to her hell dimension. The one the other two gods had banished her from."

"The problem was, the Key didn't just open up a portal to her world. It opened a portal to _every_ world. And the only way to stop it was to kill Dawn. My little sister. Her blood was the only thing that would close the portal and stop the worlds from ending."

She had tears in her eyes now. Once she'd started talking everything seemed to pour out. It didn't matter if the people in the room were still listening to her. All that seemed to matter was getting it out of her system.

"Alright, that's enough. You were right, I don't believe you." The statement from John snapped her out of her memories. He was staring at Buffy and Missouri like they'd both lost their minds.

"A mystical 5 foot-nothing hunter from another world? Are you kiddin' me? Missouri, don't tell me you're buyin' this?" He was tightening the grip on his gun again. "Don't get me wrong, it was quite the story.."

John was interrupted by a hand being, once again, on his throat.

Pissed off, didn't even begin to describe Buffy. She knew there had been a whopper of a chance that Sam's dad wouldn't believe her. No sane person would. But she had opened old wounds, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with denial.

Buffy reached out and grabbed the gun from John's hand. Using her slayer-strength she squeezed the barrel until not even water could pass through it. John's eyes widened.

"Glory got a hold of Dawnie." Buffy's voice quivered with anger. "Blood was taken from my baby sister and the portal was opened. But they made her flesh and blood. My flesh and blood. So it's me, Dawn or the world. I choose me and end up here."

"I lost everything! My family, my friends, my home. But I start over. All the while looking for a way back. And then I meet Jessie and Sam, and I think 'hey, if I can't get home, maybe I can have a life, a normal one'."

"But no. No 'happy endings' for Buffy. Because a few years later I find my best friend pinned to the ceiling and being burned alive! Sam leaves with his brother, and I end up alone again."

"I am going to find this thing and I'm going kill it. And I think it would go faster if you helped me. So decide. Help me or not. But don't get in my way."

And with that Buffy left to go outside to get some fresh air.

Leaving behind a shocked hunter and psychic.

~~~~********************~~~~

John's mind was reeling.

He thought he'd seen everything in the 22 years he'd been a hunter. But the blonde 'slayer' confused him. John didn't buy her story, but her strength backed it up. Of course she could be a demon. However, the holy water ruled out that theory.

Plus the girl had seemed to win over Missouri, not something that was easy to do. Speaking of which, the psychic was currently glaring at him. John was sort of used to being glared at. He knew he wasn't the easiest person to be around, after Mary had… But Missouri had been the one to open his eyes to the world that, until the fire, had been hidden. She'd been at this kind of stuff longer than he had and he respected her for it.

"What!?" He 'asked'.

"You know damn well 'what'. I believe that girl, and you're goin' apologize to her whether you believe her or not! I can feel her power, John. Ya saw what she did to that gun! She can help you. And you can help her. Just think about it." Next thing he knew, he was alone in Missouri's living room.

John sighed. Everything was getting so damn complicated. That thing suddenly acting up. Sam's girlfriend being killed. The number of possessions this year being sky-high. Mary's _ghost_…..

And now this. Maybe all this crap was finally getting to him. He looked at the gun. The girl had twisted it like it had been made of rubber.

After all these years, John considered himself to be pretty good at reading people. The emotion he'd seen on her face when she'd been telling her story, had looked pretty damn convincing. He knew demons were experts at lying, but he also knew Missouri would spot the lie in an instant. His old friend trusted the girl, and that carried a lot of weight.

But the most important fact, was that she supposedly knew Sam. And for that alone she needed watching. Nobody was coming near his family.

So he made a decision.

He still didn't completely buy into the whole 'from another world'-crap, but he'd give her a shot. God knew he could use all the help he could get. He'd keep an eye on her though. Check out her story for any inconsistencies .

But first he had to do something he hadn't done in years.

Apologize.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: I usually don't like the whole 'Buffy spills her whole life story to someone she just met' -thing, but I felt it was neccesary if Buffy was going to get John's help. Missouri was a lot of fun to write, John however was a bit of a pain though. I had trouble predicting how he would react to things.

About the holy water thing, I know it didn't work on yellow eyes, but Sam and Dean didn't seem to know that and I am going to assume that's because John didn't either.  
Anyway, please let me know what you think. :)

~Mayrose


	6. Life is a Highway

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Supernatural.

**Chapter five**

Evergreen cemetery was a quiet place. Filled with nicely engraved headstones and well-carved statues of Angels. Few people ever came here, however, despite most of the lots being occupied. But it was definitely one of the nicest cemeteries that Buffy had been in.

Of course, that observation was slightly ruined by what she was standing in now.

"I still don't see why I have to do the heavy lifting." She complained, as she lifted another shovel full of dirt over the edge. And after three shovels more, she finally heard a _thump_, as the shovel reached its destination. "This was so _not_ in the slayer job-description."

"'Cause you're the student, and the student gets to do all the grunt-work. Helps with learnin'. Now stop whining. What happened to that 'slayer-strength' of yours?" The hunter that was next to the grave she was standing in, replied. When Buffy climbed out of the hole she had just dug, she saw the amused smirk on his face, and briefly considered throwing him in.

_Nah_, he'd just add more hours to the research 'lessons'. This guy was _so_ much worse than Giles. But she had soon learned that John Winchester cracking a smile was rare, so she supposed she could refrain from pushing him into the freshly dug grave, just this once.

Besides, all that –seemingly endless- research had so far been paying off. Buffy had learned a lot about this world in the few months she had been traveling with Sam's dad, and had discovered that it hadn't been as demon-free as she had believed. She supposed that Sunnydale being an evil-magnet had just made her used to having to just wait around until the next big bad showed up. Here you had to research and actually look for things that needed killing. It mostly being spirits. But it was a whole new way of slaying.

Buffy just had trouble figuring out if she resented that she still had a job to do, or to be grateful that she had a purpose again.

John opened the canister he was carrying and dumped the fluid, followed by salt, onto the corpse. This was definitely one of Buffy's least favourite tasks. Unfortunately spirits were kind of hard to get rid of any other way.

Soon the body of Annabel Lowell was set aflame. She had been murdered by her husband in a drunken rage, and now killed anyone who stepped foot into the house she used to live in.

Filling the grave back up, the two headed for John's truck. The truck Buffy wasn't allowed to drive. So she had totaled her own car. Big whoop. It so had not been her fault! Stupid lamppost. But after the little 'incident', the hunter hadn't seemed to trust her with driving his precious truck, and so he ended up doing most of the driving. Which was fine with her. After living in one town for so long, she just wasn't used to driving around so much. Even when she'd been on the psychic-hunt she hadn't done as much driving without breaks. But still she had to practically force John to make a few stops so she could stretch her legs.

Everything he did, Buffy had discovered, was so focused on his missions. Whether it was driving to his destination or finding out what was causing the deaths in the cases they were investigating. But his main focus, his obsession, was finding the thing that had killed his wife all those years ago. His way of tracking was mind-boggling to the slayer, and seemed very random, but it seemed to work.

He had grilled her extensively on what she remembered of that night, and they had been making great progress in trying to find the identity of the little freakin' pyro. But Buffy was relieved to find that John didn't solely focus on finding _it_. He put a lot of time in finding other things and getting rid of them. Thereby saving a lot of lives.

However, Buffy had also noticed that he sent text messages to his sons, with the location of a hunt. Apparently, Sam and his brother had never found their father, and were still looking for him. Buffy promised herself that she would do something about this little fact, but John seemed pretty adamant about keeping his sons out of this fight.

Sam was not going to like that. Buffy may have only recently started discovering who the real Sam Winchester was, but she knew his personality. He was going to want revenge. And John keeping him out of this fight was probably going to damage their already somewhat fragile relationship. She could understand why he was doing it. He wanted to protect his 'boys'. But she didn't agree with it. Sam and his brother deserved to hunt this thing with their father. They had spent their whole lives chasing this thing, only to have their dad cut them out when he started getting closer.

Buffy understood Sam better now. She still had trouble picturing him as a hunter, but she knew he was a lot like her. He wanted a normal life away from all the horrors and death, just like she did. Buffy found it somewhat funny that Sam's dad had kicked him out for wanting to stop fighting and live a normal life, while her own mother had kicked her out because she couldn't stop.

They finally arrived at the motel they were staying in, or rather, the motel that 'Denny Duquette' and his 'daughter' 'Hannah' were staying in. That was something else that Buffy had learned, fake ID's, credit card scams, etc. She still didn't feel very comfortable with it all, kind of like with Faith's want-take-have motto, but going legal just wasn't an option for someone in her situation, so she bore with it.

Inside the room, on the table were about a gazillion obituaries that she and John had sifted through for 'training'. They'd discovered a pattern in Indiana. Some small town where couples seemed to disappear each year. The problem was they were in Sacramento, California, and they still had some leads they needed to check out. As a result they wouldn't be able to reach the town in time, so John planned to text his sons with a list of names and the coordinates for the place.

Buffy however had other ideas. John had left his sons in the dark for too long. He may not want to let them find him, but Buffy was going to make him talk to them, so they at least had proof that their dad was still breathing.

~~~~********************~~~~

Pushing in the last coin he started dialing the number he knew by heart.

John was doing this of his own free will. He'd planned on doing this all along. It had absolutely nothing to do with the blonde staring at him from the truck outside the phonebooth. Nor had it anything to do with the look the girl was giving him. The look that was very similar to the one Mary used to give him when she'd thought he'd done something stupid.

John sighed. He was getting pushed around by a five-foot twenty-something year old girl. He, John Winchester. Ex-marine. Hunter.

He must be getting old.

He finally heard Dean's phone being answered. Only it wasn't Dean that he heard. Damn. Not that John wasn't happy to hear his youngest son's voice for the first time in over two years, but Sam wouldn't just let him give the names and coordinates. He'd question John. And they would probably get into another argument. Something he just didn't have time for.

But still, it was nice to hear from Sammy again.

"Sam, is that you?"

"_Dad! Are you hurt?"_

Great. Now he was feeling guilty. Damn that girl for talking him into this!

"I'm fine."

Sigh. And now Sammy was grilling him for information. Where are you? Why can't you tell us? But he wouldn't answer Sam. No way were his kids getting involved with this. He'd already pulled them in too far. Made them hunters. But no way was that thing getting his boys.

"_You're after it, aren't you? The thing that killed mom." _Sam's statement brought him out of his thoughts. John decided to give him a bone.

"Yeah. It's a demon Sam." He hadn't known for sure before, but he'd grilled Buffy for information about what happened. She hadn't seen much. There had been too much smoke and fire. Something John remembered all too well. But she had seen it. She'd said it looked human. _"At least until it threw me through the window."_ She'd also said that she had 'felt' it when it had used its powers. And that it felt old and powerful. Something that coincided with what Missouri had told him all those years ago. All this, plus the increase in demonic activity lately, had lead him to the conclusion that it was a demon. It was now down to finding which one. And figuring out why it was suddenly active.

He still didn't completely know what to make of his fellow traveler. Everything he'd seen so far coincided with what she'd told him at Missouri's before he'd promised the psychic to take her with him. There had been one incident. He'd done some background checking on the name of her 'counterpart', that she'd given him, and had found out that she had been admitted to an asylum and was presumed dead. This had made him slightly angry with her -as this was the kind of thing he should know about if she was going to travel with him- and he'd confronted her about it.

She'd told him that, yes, she had been admitted in an asylum when she was fifteen, but 'in her world' she had been released after a few months. And she hadn't told him, because A) she didn't like to talk about it and B) John had had trouble believing she was from another world to begin with, that her counterpart had been a mental patient, wouldn't have helped matters, she'd said.

Admittedly, she'd had a point.

But still he'd added a lot of 'homework' to her assignments after that. Fine, John would admit it, he was getting a slight kick out of making the girl suffer with the amount of research he made her do. But it was nothing he and the boys hadn't done, and she needed to learn right? Besides her fighting skill were better than John's. Something he'd found out the hard way. And so was her aim. This was something that had amazed John -not easily done- but no matter what kind of weapon he handed to her she mastered it after just a few go's. She didn't carry around a gun though. Said she didn't like them and that she'd stick with 'pointy objects'. John hadn't liked it, but she was strong and skilled enough to fight things in close-combat, so he'd let it slide for now.

So that left John to teach her the theory behind hunting. How to track things. How to find out what you're dealing with and how to kill it. John had noticed that she knew very little about incorporeal threats, and her skills indicated that she was used to fighting with beings hand-to-hand. Everything pointed to Buffy actually being what she said she was, but John just wasn't quite ready to admit to the possibility. Wasn't ready for his world-view to be turned upside down once again. The girl was making that somewhat difficult though.

But John had decided to trust her. She'd helped him figure out what he was chasing. And she seemed to genuinely care about Sam too. She wanted to catch this thing not just out of revenge, but to prevent it from hurting her friend any further. She'd also saved his butt a few times as well, and the hunts lately had seemed a little easier.

"_A demon? You know for sure?"_ Sammy once again snapped him out of his musings. He really needed to stop getting so distracted. He could heard Dean in the background.

"I do. Listen Sammy.." He didn't want to bring this up, but it needed to be said. "..I, uh, I also know what happened to your girlfriend, and I'm sorry. I would have done anything to protect you from somethin' like that."

Buffy had told him all about Sam and Jess and what they'd all been up to. He hadn't told her but he was very grateful for the knowledge she'd given him, that Sam had been happy. And from the sounds of it, that Jess girl sounded like she'd been good for Sam. He was just sorry that things had ended so badly.

"_You know where it is?"_ Guess Sammy didn't want to talk about it. John understood that, so he went along with it.

"Yeah, I think I'm finally closing in on it." And he was. He was much closer than he'd ever been before.

"_Let us help."_

"You can't. You can't be any part of it." _Even though he already is_. A voice in the back of his head whispered. No. Dean and Sam weren't going to be involved.

"Listen Sammy, this is why I called. You and your brother, you gotta stop looking for me. Alright, now, I need you to write down a few names for me."

Of course, things could never go that easily. 'Specially when Sam was involved, so naturally the boy started arguing back. No he wasn't going to follow orders. What was going on? What names? Why won't you let us help you? He was about to seriously lose his temper when a familiar voice called out from the phone. He breathed a sigh of relief. Dean. Good. He could rely on Dean to follow his orders.

After giving Dean all the necessary information John hung up the phone and headed towards the truck, not looking at the smug look on the girl's face. So she had been right. So he felt better having talked to his boys. He was never in a million years going to mention this fact to the blonde next to him.

She'd be impossible to live with.

~~~~********************~~~~

The truck swerved to the right. Tires screeching in protest. Inside the vehicle one Buffy Summers was holding on for dear life, almost, but not quite, bending the material in her grip. This was the guy that didn't trust her to drive his truck? The guy that had been driving like a maniac for nearly two states?

Of course she understood the rush.

They'd been in the woods for a while hunting a Wendigo. The woods-thing had not been Buffy friendly, but that was a story for another time. The point was that after they had killed the annoyingly smart creature, John had checked his messages and gone very pale. She had never seen him so freaked out before and it had unnerved her. On the phone was a message from Sam.

His older brother, Dean, was sick and apparently doctors had told Sam there was nothing they could do for him. Sam had then mentioned that he was going to find a way to 'fix' it. This, they found out from one John's friends, meant they were going to a 'specialist' in Nebraska. When Buffy and John got there however, the brothers had already left. Apparently they had found something fishy, as the place had been shut down and the reverend's wife had died a few nights before they got there.

Now after about a week and a half of searching, they had located the two in Missouri. They seemed to be investigating the death of Martin Robinson, who was apparently the father of Dean's ex-girlfriend.

Stopping in front of the house they'd looked up they saw Sam and another guy step outside followed by a woman with curly black hair. Wow, the Winchester family had good genes. Buffy took a long look at Sam's older brother before concluding that the guy definitely didn't seem like he was going to drop dead any time soon.

"Looks like Sam managed to 'fix it'. His brother looks fine to me." Buffy turned to John who was sitting as still as a statue, staring at his oldest son. "You okay?"

John snapped out of whatever trance he'd been in and sighed. "Yeah, it's just… Sam findin' that guy… was one in a million. Dean came this close to…" Suddenly he seemed to realize that he was 'sharing' and John made that annoying blank face, which to Buffy always looked like a mixture of anger and sadness. "C'mon we're leavin'."

"You sure you don't wanna go talk to them? I mean, you're son nearly died."

Buffy instantly regretted that last part, as John turned back to her. His face definitely on the anger setting. "We're leaving." He repeated.

She sighed. You kinda needed to watch what you were saying around the gruff hunter. When pissed off, he would either become really quiet or he'd start barking orders, either way he wouldn't be pleasant company. This was kind of a problem for Buffy as she had a tendency to say what was on her mind before thinking about it, and John seemed to have a short fuse.

This was going to be a long drive.

When they were about to turn a corner Buffy turned around in her seat to get a last look at the brothers. Sam was looking a little rougher than she was used to. Buffy supposed being a hunter again had that affect on him. But she had the feeling that most of it came from losing Jessie. She knew she herself didn't look like she did before this whole mess.

"So… where are we going next?" She tried, after turning back around in her seat. So he was a little grouchy. Buffy just wasn't in the mood to deal with brooding silence. Angel had given her enough of that to last a lifetime.

"Nevada." Unfortunately John was an expert at these silences, and short of annoying him into a ranting mode, it looked like Buffy was going to have to deal.

"Sounds fun. What are we hunting?"

Ranting mode it was.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: Little Grey's anatomy reference there. ^^ I don't know if John was aware of Cassie in the show or not but I'm going to asume he was. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! :)  
Let me know what you think. :)

~Mayrose


	7. Learn To Fly

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the vampire slayer nor Supernatural.

**Chapter six**

"Behind you!"

Buffy narrowly avoided what probably would have been a painful punch to the face, and responded by giving an equaling painful uppercut to the jaw followed by a kick to the stomach. The Ghoul flew backwards giving her just enough time to check on the hunter that was with her.

John was currently fighting its partner, but considering he'd had time to shout out a warning and judging from what she was seeing now, he seemed to be holding his own. Grabbing the tire iron she'd dropped just a few minutes ago she turned her attention back towards the creature that was wearing the face of a teenage boy.

She knew what that meant. It meant that this was the face of the Ghoul's latest victim. Using the anger that came with that thought she aimed the weapon in her hand for its head and killed the creature before her.

Turning around she came face to face with John who appeared to have won the fight with his opponent as well, and was covered in blood. She wished she could say that she came out of her fight clean, but judging from the dampness of her shirt and the sticky substance she could feel on her face, she doubted it. Oh the joys of being a slayer.

"Thanks."

John nodded his 'you're welcome' and headed towards the exit. They were currently in the morgue of a hospital in New Jersey where the Ghouls had been stealing bodies from so they could snack on them. Buffy shuddered. She decided that she really didn't like Ghouls. Eating people and then taking their face? Yuck.

"You sure there's no other way of killing these things without ending up looking like a monster movie reject?" Buffy broke the silence. The morgue reminded her way too much of when mom died and Dawnie had decided that she needed to get herself in to trouble with a vampire again. Plus the serial killer look wasn't really her style.

John looked over with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm sure." Buffy must have let some of her anxiety show on her face cause the hunters expression turned thoughtful. "Don't like hospitals, huh?"

Buffy scoffed. "Nah, a place with needles, doctors and diseases? What's not to like?" She deadpanned, before pulling John behind a corner as a nurse walked past them.

When they reached the parking lot that was bathed in streetlights John's cellphone rang, and when he saw the name of the person calling him, he frowned. "Ellen?" he answered.

Buffy started paying close attention when his face turned to confusion and surprise. "What about it?....I don't need yo-….. Ellen, I don't need your help…. Yeah, I'm sure." And with an angry sigh he hung up and put the phone in his pocket and went back to walking towards the truck.

When it didn't seem like he was going to tell her anything, Buffy rolled her eyes and asked "Who was that? And what kind of help were they offering? Ooh, was it a cool weapon? I bet it was a cool weapon. Something that can kill-"

"That was an ol' friend, and no!" He interrupted her with an exasperated look aimed at her direction. Buffy smirked. He usually cracked when she started rambling. It was the best way to get information out of him when he clammed up. Buffy's smirk then turned into a frown.

"Why did you refuse to take her up on her offer? I mean, we are still looking for that stupid demon. Unless you know something that I don't."

John frowned. "No, but we already know what to look for to find the damn thing. We don't need Ellen's help, we just need to find somethin' to kill it with." When he saw she was about to protest, he added "I mean it. Drop it."

With a sigh and a pout she decided to drop the matter for now and got into the truck. The guy was way too stubborn for his own good and Buffy knew that she couldn't talk him out of it when he made up his mind about something.

"Now, do you remember what I told you about Banshees?"

Buffy glared at his obvious attempt to change the subject, but decided to humour him. "Yeah, um, they're Death Omens, right? Usually dressed in white and depending on the age of the person that's going to die, can look from a pretty woman to a hag."

She reached for her bag and got out a well used note book that she had bought a few months ago. Considering she had practically signed up for 'supernatural beings, 101' she figured with her memory, or rather her attention-span, it would be better if she wrote everything down.

Flipping through the pages, she found what she had been looking for. "They also hang out at rivers washing out bloody clothes, and some are said to be cannibals that prefer eating children. Ugh. What is it with monsters and eating people?"

John glanced at her, the smirk from earlier returning to his face. "We'd probably be out of a job if they didn't go after humans."

Buffy sighed. "Yeah." She hated herself for thinking it, but life would be a lot more boring if this world really didn't have as much monsters as it did, like she'd believed when she'd first got here. She felt so much more alive and at ease now that she was 'back in the game', some edginess that she hadn't known was there leaving her system. Not that she wouldn't give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant that Jessie would be alive and well again. But, and she couldn't believe she was thinking it, she felt better now that she had her old job back.

"So, I'm guessing you found a Banshee somewhere?"

"Yeah, I've got reports of a woman in a white dress carryin' around bloody clothes in Wyoming. Of course it might be a regular woman in white. But with some of the local children missing, I doubt it."

"Cool, never come across a Banshee before."

And she was actually looking forward to fighting one. If someone had told her five years ago that she would enjoy hunting things, she would have laughed in their face. But now? It was like when Dracula first showed up and she had been going out patrolling more than she used to, having this urge to hunt.

Maybe she was becoming more in tune with the slayer.

Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about that.

~~~~********************~~~~

"So, we're thinking this is a trap?"

"Yeah." John answered, without looking in her direction. He looked kinda pissed. But Buffy was sure she'd had the same look on her face once or twice when some ignorant demon decided to use one of her friends, or worse Dawn, as bait so they could get to the slayer.

They'd gotten a call from John's oldest son, saying they thought that they had a serious lead on the thing that had killed their mother. Unfortunately, John and Buffy could find none of the usual signs that accompanied the demon whenever it killed someone. This lead them to the conclusion that it was probably a setup.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Walking past a neon sign they reached a building covered in graffiti across the street, just in time to see a blonde woman with short hair and a yellow jacket crash through the window on the top floor and land with a sickening crunch that made Buffy wince.

When she saw two figures she recognized as Sam and his brother look out the same window the woman had fallen through, she felt herself being tugged backwards by John and into an alley. "Please tell me that was the bad guy, or.. girl."

"I think it was, the boys don't look too worried." John replied with a frown on his face. Once he saw the brothers leaving the building and heading in the opposite direction, he turned to Buffy. "Alright, I want you to check out that building while I go see if the boys are alright."

"What? Why can't I go with you? It's been forever since I've seen Sam, I wanna make sure he's okay."

"Because" He started, and Buffy could see the signs of anger forming on his face for like the billionth time in the few months that she'd known him. "after this, I am gonna have a hard enough time convincin' them that they need to go their own way, and havin' you along will make it that much harder. Now go!"

And before she could argue back like she wanted to, John turned and started heading towards the hotel his sons were staying in. Reigning in her frustration she turned towards the building, walked around the body of the woman who was lying in rapidly growing pool of her own blood, and entered via a slightly camouflaged door.

Inside it was dark, the walls paneled with wood making it that much darker. Walking past the elevator she turned the corner and came across a flight of stairs with a green door at the top. When she reached it she saw it had an electronic lock above the door handle. Using her slayer strength she busted open the door.

The first few floors were empty apart from crates and mannequins, but the last one, the one the woman had taken the tumble from, held a few more interesting objects. Near the wall next to the broken window lay an upturned wooden table, various cups and candles scattered around it, as well as a few bones and a burned skull that was way too small for her liking.

Turning the table back into an upright position she noticed a broken mirror underneath. Putting most of the pieces together like one would a puzzle she saw that the blood on the shards formed a symbol. She took a picture of it with her phone so she could look it up later.

Standing up she grew aware of a presence behind her and turned around. Standing there with a bored look on her face was the same blonde woman she had just seen on the pavement with a pool of blood beneath her. Not human then. But her 'spidey-sense' wasn't picking anything up from her. Demon maybe?

"Ya know" The woman started. "I've been having kind of a bad day, and some stranger going through my things isn't helping my mood all that much."

"Luckily for me I don't care much if a demon is having a bad day or not, in fact, I like making those days worse for them." Her voice was equally as uncaring as that of the thing in front of her, like it was everyday a woman survived falling from a great height. Which now that Buffy thought about it wasn't that uncommon when she remembered how she got here.

The woman smirked at being called a demon, and started giving Buffy an appraising look. "Ah, you're that girl that's been traveling John Winchester. Huh. I gotta say, I thought he liked his woman older, but I guess Johnny's just full of surprises."

Buffy snorted, not dignifying that with a response. Focusing instead on letting the slayer come up to the surface. The demon seemed to notice the change as her eyes narrowed and her body tensed.

Suddenly it lashed out and tried slam its fist into Buffy's face. Buffy seeing this coming used her speed to avoid it by leaning to the right, grabbing the arm and lifting up her knee into the woman's gut.

It knocked the wind out of the demon and it seemed surprised at the strength of the kick, but that only lasted a second as the blonde threw another fist in Buffy's direction, this time hitting its target and the slayer flew backwards.

Crap, she hit as hard as a vampire. Buffy grinned. Oh this was going to be fun. She hadn't had a good workout in ages. The Ghouls and the Banshee from a few weeks back hadn't been that strong and most of the other cases were ghosts. Something that was a little hard to fight with.

She aimed a punch at the demon who blocked it but again seemed surprised at the strength behind the attack. After a few minutes of hitting, dodging and blocking, neither parties were showing any heavy signs of exertion but both were sporting quit a large amount of wounds. The woman was now starting to look irritated and slightly worried. "What the hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." Buffy replied, coupled with a round-house kick towards the demon. The other blonde flew backwards with a grunt and Buffy used that time to head towards the table and break off one of its legs.

Now armed she turned back towards the demon who was charging her. Ducking a swipe aimed at her head Buffy started hitting the woman at full strength. Seeing that the demon was now somewhat disorientated, she kicked the woman back a few feet.

Knowing she had no idea how to kill this thing she ran for the door and headed out into the city at full speed. Once she was sure she wasn't being followed she made her way back towards the motel she and John were staying at.

Buffy felt like a walking bruise and she knew once the adrenaline wore off she was gonna feel much worse. Taking the key out of the pocket of her black leather jacket she entered the room and froze at the sight in front of her.

John was sitting on the edge of one of the beds with a first-aid kit next to him. He was stitching himself up and it seemed like it was going to take a while too, with the amount of slashes she could see on his chest and face.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and you end up looking like you lost a fight with an angry cat. What the hell happened?" she asked as plopped herself down on the other bed.

John just gave her one of his looks and said "I could say the same thing to you. Ya look like crap, kid."

"Eh, I'll be fine in a few hours. What about you? Want me to help you with that?"

He shook his head. "No, I got it covered."

Buffy sighed, suddenly feeling tired. A thought hit her and she turned back to John with a frown. "What about your sons? Are they okay?"

He turned to her with a small reassuring smile. "Other than having a few more scars added, they're fine. They'll be alright. So, what did ya find?"

"One freaky alter with bones, candles and this symbol." She handed her phone over to John with the picture on it. "And also, that woman that didn't quit manage to fly? Demon. I got the impression she knew a lot about you guys. Think she's working with the one we're after?"

"Yeah, probably. I think this is what she was usin' to control the things that attacked me and the boys. I think I heard Sammy call 'em 'shadow demons'."

"Great. So, what do we do now?"

"We patch up our wounds and keep searchin' for the demon in the meantime."

"Sounds great. But first I'm gonna get some much needed beauty sleep." Grabbing her nightclothes she headed towards the bathroom. When she got back out John was knocked out on his bed. Putting the first-aid kit out of the way and covering the hunter with his blankets she went to her own bed and went to sleep.

Something told her she was going to need all the rest she could get.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: And we have a new chapter, this time with Meg. :)  
Anyway this is my first time writing fight-scenes, can't have Buffy or Supernatural without fight-scenes. I hope they were alright, but let me know what you guys think.

Thanks for those who reviewed. :)

~Mayrose


	8. Bad Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Supernatural.

**Chapter Seven**

"Can I help you, miss?"

"Um, no, thank you. I'm just browsing." Buffy replied to the store manager. They were currently in a small town in Minnesota, and as much as she wished otherwise, she was not here for a relaxing shopping trip. Nope, this was business.

Right now Buffy was in a small shop that dealt mostly with selling jewelry. She was looking for one item in particular; a silver necklace of Celtic design that had an interesting red stone in the middle. The stone was cursed, and brought bad luck to those you touched when you had it hanging from your neck.

It used to belong to an old woman named Iris Hayley who had moved here from Ireland about forty years ago. When she passed away she had left it to her daughter, and her daughter Melanie had then sold it to this store. But not before the stone had manage to add a few more victims to its list, thereby attracting John and Buffy's attention.

The store was mostly filled with jewelry that had gem stones in them such as amethysts, emeralds, quarts, topaz… you name it, they had it. Buffy found herself looking around with interest. All these pretty shiny objects. This was definitely one of the nicest jobs she been on so far.

There! Lying between a pair of ruby earrings and a few amber bracelets was her target. Turning around she went searching for someone to help her. The woman at one of the cash registers was already moving to help another costumer, so she turned her attention to the store manager who had offered to help her earlier, he was standing around the corner placing some new items in an empty case.

"Um, Excuse me? Hi, I would like to buy something from that glass case over there, please." She asked, once he turned his attention towards her.

"Oh, certainly. Just let me grab the keys." He walked over to the woman at the cash register who had just finished with her client, and asked "Molly, could you hand me the key chain? Thanks."

Walking back to Buffy he asked for which case but when they finally got there, all she could do was stare at the now very empty spot where the necklace had been just a few minutes ago. "There was a necklace. A silver one? Celtic, with a red stone?"

"Ah, yes, I remember that one. Just a moment, I'll try to find out what happened to it."

The guy walked back to the woman 'Molly', but after a few minutes it started becoming clear to the slayer that the necklace had been sold while Buffy had been looking for someone to help her. Luckily, with her enhanced hearing she managed to get a name, seems like this really was a small town.

Emily Hanson.

Buffy had already left by the time the guy turned around to give her the news.

~~~~~*******************~~~~

"Have you… done this before?"

"Sort of." Came the distracted reply. After the last few months she really shouldn't have been that surprised. But still she couldn't help but look amazed as John was picking the lock of the backdoor like a pro.

They'd finally found the address for the buyer of their cursed necklace. John hadn't been happy that she'd lost it on such a simple mission, but what was done was done, so here they were breaking into the woman's house at eleven in the evening.

They heard a click and soon gained entrance to the kitchen. Buffy's first thought was that the owners sure liked their flower-print. Even the floor was covered in flowers on the tiles. Walking in with a raised eyebrow she noticed a similar look on John's face.

Both smirking they went into the hallway, luckily somewhat neutral, and headed up the stairs. Mrs. Hanson was a widow and currently at a party of a friend, so that left them with an empty house.

After the kitchen it only came as a small surprise that the bedroom was completely pink. Again the flower motif seemed to be popular. Sighing, Buffy headed towards the vanity table and opened the jewelry box, hoping to god that the woman hadn't taken it with her.

"Found it!" Buffy exclaimed, holding the necklace up. The red stone seemed to glow a little in the moonlight coming from the window, giving it a sinister vibe.

"Yep, that's the one." John confirmed, taking the item from the blonde and examining it in his hand.

Suddenly they heard a click that could only have come from a gun, and they slowly turned around. Yep, there was the gun. It was being held by a young woman with long light brown hair and a smirk on her face. Her blue eyes were both confident and amused. She looked out of place in the pink room with her dark blue top and black jeans.

"Take out your gun and slide it over. Slowly." She said aiming the gun in John's direction. The woman had a British accent that reminded Buffy of Giles. John shoved the gun over reluctantly, yet the brunette raised her eyebrows and said "The other one as well, please." And the hunter pulled out the second gun that he usually kept strapped to his lower leg.

While this was happening Buffy tried to get to her knife, which she kept inside her black leather jacket. Unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough as the woman focused her attention on her. "And you can hand over those lovely knives you've got hidden in your jacket and boot." Still the brunette had that irritating smile on her face.

Pouting, Buffy did as she was told. Who the hell was this person? And how had she gotten the drop on her and John? She briefly considered using her speed and strength to overpower the younger woman, but she didn't know if she could get to the gun before the woman shot either of them.

"Well, didn't see this coming. Who are you?" she purposely made her voice light and perky, playing up the blonde cheerleader act she once didn't have to fake. But that was a long time ago. That girl was dead, having pretty much died soon after she had been called.

The act however failed on the woman before her it seemed, as the gun wielder aimed at Buffy and gave her a slightly scolding look. As if berating her for thinking she could fool the brunette into underestimating her.

"My name isn't important, sweetheart." She said, slightly condescendingly. "However that pretty little necklace you two have does have some value to me, so I'd appreciate it if you could hand it over." Her tone making sure that they knew it was not a request.

John sighed and threw the cursed object at the woman who caught it with her free hand. "There you have it… Bela."

Surprise briefly showed on her face but she soon had it hidden with that smile that Buffy was really beginning to find annoying. "So, you've heard of me. Congrats. I happen to have heard a thing or two about yourself as well, John. I do wish you luck with your little hunt, but I really must be going now. Have a business-deal I need to be making shortly. Ta."

Without moving her eyes from her targets the woman made her way to the door of the bedroom. Once the door closed the hunter and the slayer moved instantly to grab their weapons and to follow. The brunette was apparently a fast runner as she was already out the front door by the time they made it to the top of the staircase.

When they made it out onto the front yard they both froze. Blue and red light flickered across their faces as they were ordered to put their weapons down and to put their hands on their heads. Once the police confiscated the knives and the guns they handcuffed John and Buffy and placed them into the police car.

Once they started driving, Buffy caught a glimpse of Bela standing in the shadows of the house next door. She had a huge grin on her face and was dangling a cell phone in her hand. She must have been the one to call the cops!

"That bitch!"

"Yeah, I figured she mighta called them." John told her seemingly unconcerned, but Buffy could tell he was very irritated. She was about to reply when the police officers told them to shut up.

Buffy sighed angrily. But then she started smirking. This was not the first time she had been handcuffed and put in a police car. Admittedly, last time she'd had Faith to help her out, but Buffy thought she could manage to pull this one off on her own. Slouching deeply in her seat –which happened to be behind the driver- Buffy started to pull up her legs.

"Brace yourself." She whispered to John. And the hunter intrigued, did as she told him.

Summoning as much power as she could manage, she kicked the back of the seat of the driver hard. So hard in fact that she moved it while the police officer lost control of the car. After they crashed into a telephone pole, Buffy quickly used her slayer strength to free her hands and started to kick open the car door.

After a few kicks it opened and she soon came face to face with a disorientated officer of the law. She knocked the guy out in one punch and moved her attention towards his partner. The guy looked a little more focused but she took him out before he could pull his gun on her again.

Heading towards the door on John's side of the car she opened it to find the hunter with an expression that was somewhere between amazed and amused. "I think this is our stop." Having grabbed the key of one of the officers they were soon free of their newly acquired bracelets.

"So, do we go after her? 'Cause I for one would really like to meet up with her again. Ya know, get to know her better, beat her into a bloody pulp… that sorta thing." She asked John.

He looked at her with a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth, but also with a resigned expression. "That woman was Bela Talbot. She specializes in stealin' and sellin' occult objects. By the time we find 'er that necklace'll be long gone. So no." he sighed. "We're not goin' after her. C'mon, let's get back to the truck."

Ugh, Buffy wanted to pulverize something! If she ever met 'Bela' again they were gonna have words. And fists. Probably mostly fists. And maybe something sharp too.

After putting the police officers in their car, they headed back the way they came from.

All the while ideas and plans for revenge going through the slayer's head for if she ever met up with a certain thief again.

~~~~********************~~~~

She traced a finger along the side of his face. He looked odd in a suit. The smile on his face was also a little strange to her. She'd rarely seen it and even when she had, it hadn't seem to come as naturally to him as it did with the man on the photograph she was currently studying.

She had found the article with the photo a few weeks ago when she and John had been in Washington. At first she had been absolutely thrilled to see a familiar face again. Especially his face. Sure they'd definitely had their dramatic moments, but Angel would always have a special place in her heart no matter what.

But the man in the article wasn't Angel. No, for starters he was human. And after some research she found out he had a son. And then there was the kicker; he was an FBI agent. Seeley Booth, was his name and he worked closely with a group of scientists at the Jeffersonian.

She had decided she wasn't going to see him, ever. He wasn't Angel. He was just some stranger that looked like him. It was the same reason she had never visited her parents. They looked like them, hell, they had the same names and everything but they weren't her parents. Her parents were either strangers or dead. There was no point in visiting ghosts, especially since she looked like the dead daughter of said ghosts.

Even having decided all of this, she couldn't bring herself to part with the article. Just looking at the familiar face brought a little comfort. She so missed her friends. And Dawnie. There was a chance that she might be able to see her friend's counterparts if they, like Angel, had a different identity. But with Dawn being the Key, something there was only one of, Buffy thought that it was probably unlikely that there was a version of her sister walking around somewhere.

Putting the article away in the back of her journal she turned her attention to the other papers and documents on the table. Buffy was waiting in the motel while John went to check out a house. The house had belonged to an old friend of John's, a fellow hunter named Daniel Elkins. He'd been rather mysterious about the whole thing and she got the feeling that John was after something. She had let it go because she'd had other things on her mind, but now she was starting to get curious.

According to the report Elkins had been found mauled in his study. The police had first thought of a bear attack. Buffy rolled her eyes. Seemed the police in this world weren't that much more inventive than the cops in Sunnydale. But at least they'd adjusted their theory when they found evidence of a robbery.

Judging from what she was reading in the report, it looked a lot like a vampire attack. Buffy felt a small wave of excitement wash over her. Vampires were so rare here. Back in Sunnydale one vamp every two nights was a slow week. But here she'd only seen that one vampire in just over four years.

She was definitely going to interrogate John when he got back.

Which seemed to be right about now as she heard a key start to open the door. Buffy turned in time to see the door open and John entering the room. She was about start her little inquisition when she noticed two shapes standing in the still open doorway. Her eyebrows shot up when she recognized the shapes as Sam and his brother and were soon followed by the corners of her mouth as she saw the look of absolute shock on her friend's face.

"Buffy!?"

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: Well, it's been a little while ^^;. Updates will probably continue to be slow because I just started school again, and am just either too busy or too tired to write.  
But anyway, last time there was Meg this time Bela! I have to admit, I loved Bela and I was sad to see her go. That being said and before someone asks, I haven't decided her fate yet.  
And finally, after some waiting, we have the brothers Winchester! At least, they were in the chapter... :P  
Disclaimer: I don't own Booth from Bones.

~Mayrose


	9. It's Too Late

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and the occasional OC.

**Chapter 8**

The chilly night bathed the parking lot of the motel in dark shadows. Most of the spots were empty, apart from those sporting a large black truck and a black Chevy Impala.

The doors of the Impala creaked open and released two fairly large figures. The two waited for a third that emerged out of the black truck and started walking, without glancing back to make sure the others followed him.

Dean sighed inwardly as he watched Sam try to catch up with their dad. Probably to continue his interrogation, which had been interrupted by the fact that they'd had to travel in different cars. His little brother had been trying to get more information out of the old man since he had dropped the bomb about vampires actually existing. That and he had apparently been traveling with some chick that had superpowers. A chick that called herself the slayer.

Dean had to admit that, that part had piqued his interest even more than the vampire-part had. The girl would obviously have to be some type of supernatural creature, yet dad hadn't wasted her. That was something that had never happened before. He was raised to believe that if something gave off even the slightest sign of not being human it was to be investigated, confirmed and then killed. The idea that one of those beings was gonna be working side by side with them, took some getting used to.

Having finally caught up with what remained if his little family, he was just in time to hear one of Sam's questions.

"How come we've never heard of something like this?"

Trust Sammy to be able to sound both respectful yet condescending at the same time. His little brother seemed to be taking this whole vampire thing better than he was. But then again Sam was usually more open to this kinda stuff than Dean. Which was sorta funny considering the kid wanted to be normal so badly.

The eldest Winchester glanced at the youngest, and Dean could already spot irritation there but not as much as he expected there to be. Sam didn't seem to like the fact that their dad had decided to cut them out of the hunt, and was making his opinion very clear. Hell, why John had been hunting with some stranger instead of his own sons, Dean didn't know. But what he did know, was that if Sammy kept this up, things were going to get ugly. And Dean was getting tired of playing referee.

"Because, Sammy, I only found out about this a couple o' months ago. An ol' friend told me I could trust the girl, and so far it's worked out."

"You'd rather hunt this thing with some stranger than your own sons?" Sam echoed his earlier thoughts.

"Sammy, just wait till ya see who it is before ya start bitin' my head off, will ya?"

At least they hadn't started shouting yet. That was always a plus.

They reached room number 12 and their father pulled out his keys. Shooting one last look at Sam, one that if it were anyone else Dean would call hesitant, he opened the door.

Whatever it was that Dean had been expecting, short and blonde had not been it. The girl was tiny. Looked like she could barely hold off a twelve year-old, let alone a vampire. The only thing that kept Dean from dismissing her was the fact that he'd learned the hard way that most supernatural beings were tougher than they looked. That and his dad seemed to respect her, from what little he'd gleaned of their earlier conversation.

She had long honey blonde hair that was tied up in a messy bun, and was dressed in blue jeans, a cream coloured top and a black leather jacket.

She was about to say something when she caught sight of him and Sam. She looked startled at first but then an amused smile crept over her face. And when Dean turned to his brother, he found out why.

The kid hadn't looked this shocked since the time he found out Dean had put Nair in his shampoo. Mouth open, bulging eyes, the whole nine yards. He would have found it funny if Sammy hadn't started to become so pale.

"Buffy!?"

Well, that explained it.

*****

_Sam turned his cellphone off with a sigh._

_"What?" Dean asked, ever so discreetly. They were staying in a hotel on the outskirts of Palo Alto trying to find anything on the thing that had killed Sammy's girlfriend. Dean had never seen Sam look so depressed before._

_But, and even though he kinda hated himself for thinking it, he was glad to have at least part of his family back._

_Unfortunately, Sammy was deciding to go at this like dad had chosen to. When the kid wasn't having nightmares or brooding silences, he was completely focused on finding the thing that had killed mom._

_His brother glanced up at him as if considering whether or not to tell him. "Um, well, I can't reach Jess's friend." Sam looked concerned. And while it wasn't exactly a positive emotion it was a relief from the overwhelming sadness and cold rage that he'd been showing up until now. Dean vaguely remembered his dad acting the same way back in the day._

_If this was what a 'stable relationship' was gonna result in for the members of their family, especially in their line of business, then he would be glad to never experience one ever again._

_"So, maybe she's just outta town or something?"_

_Yeah, that didn't sound very convincing to himself either._

_"No, that's not like her. I mean, she and Jess were close. Like, talking on the phone every other day, close. It's been a little over a week since Jess… since the fire. If Buffy had gone on a road-trip and hadn't heard from her in over a week, she would be freaking out. She's really protective." And now he was frustrated, which was gonna head straight back towards rage again. "And she hasn't called me once since I left a message on her machine."_

_"Maybe she just doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, she did just loose her best friend. …. And seriously? Buffy?"_

_There! A smirk! Progress here, people. "Yeah, Dean, don't. All those jokes and puns have already been made, man. But.. she would wanna check on me, that's just the kind of person she is."_

_The kind of person she was sounded like a freakin mother-hen to Dean, but it was something for Sam to focus on besides revenge, so he would take it. Besides, it was nice to know someone had been looking out for Sammy._

_"Okay, where would this girl usually hang out? Maybe we can track her down, make sure she's alright?" And Dean was glad he asked when he saw the look of gratitude on his little brother's face._

_"Yeah, I know of a couple places."_

_*****  
_

They'd scoured those places before ending up at some diner. Both Jess and Buffy had worked there, and they and Sam were friends with the owner, Jim. Jim had told them that a few days after he'd heard about the fire -_"I was sorry to hear 'bout Jessie, kid."_- Buffy had come to the diner and had told him that she quit and that she was moving out of town.

Sam, though disappointed he hadn't heard anything from her, had then decided to go back to the whole revenge thing. It was like living with a younger version of dad.

Dean turned his attention back to the girl. He had to admit she wasn't hard to look at. If she and Jess were any indication of the kind of people that you could find near a college, then Dean was starting to get the appeal of a higher education.

Unfortunately, his father was giving him one his 'don't even think about it'- looks, so for now he'd just settle on admiring the view. Besides, Dean was just a little pissed about the fact that she had been hunting with his dad instead of him. It was irrational, and not really her fault but he couldn't help it.

"Sam!" Buffy stood up her chair and gave his brother a huge smile before coming over and hugging him, which Sammy responded to, awkwardly. He still didn't seem to believe that she standing there.

"Buffy? What.. the..? How..? What are you doing here?"

Something in the blonde's expression shifted, and it made Dean tense. This was all starting to look a little familiar. If she turned out to be another Meg, Dean was gonna have a serious little chat with Sammy about how to pick his friends.

"I'm hunting." It was said like a statement. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, you're this slayer?" Dean asked, after a pause. Sammy still didn't seem to be able to form coherent sentences, but he snapped out of it when Dean mentioned the reason they were there in the first place.

"You're this slayer dad was talking about!?"

"No, the invisible girl in the corner is. " Buffy deadpanned. "Yes, I'm the slayer." She then turned towards the old man -who'd been standing quietly observing- with an disgruntled look on her face. "And that won't stay a secret, if people keep blurting it out!"

"They needed to know, so I told them. 'Cause, I hate to break it to ya there, kiddo, but you're not exactly subtle about it."

"Hey! I can so be subtle!"

At their dad's skeptical look, she added "I can!"

"As truly fascinating as this conversation is-…" Dean was interrupted of his interruption by Sam, who by now had caught up to events, and looked like someone had kicked his puppy.

"How come you never told us? Did… did Jess know?"

Buffy's mock expression of outrage turned into a glare that made both of the brothers step back a little. "No, she didn't. And by the way, I wasn't the only one that wasn't all sharing, mister Hunter."

The statement made Sam flinch and he averted his eyes away from the short blonde that barely reached his shoulders. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. It's just.." Sam let out a huff of laughter. "I never would've pictured you for a hunter."

The blonde's face softened, but her eyes narrowed. "If you say it's because I'm short or blonde, I will kick your butt."

Sam smiled a little as he was apparently forgiven. And Dean took this opportunity to step forward and held out his hand. "Hi, we haven't been introduced yet. Dean Winchester."

"Buffy Summers." She replied, shaking his hand. Her grip was strong, so not a complete pushover. Not that his father would have been traveling with her if she was.

They stood there for a moment. Both of them assessing the other.

After a while John spoke up. "Alright, that's enough of this reunion. Sam, Dean, why don't you boys get some rest. I'll wake ya up once I pick somethin' up on the radio. Buffy, I want you to look for possible sites where the vampires mighta nested."

"Yes, sir!" Buffy mock saluted their dad. She seemed surprised when he and Sam automatically said it as well.

~~~~********************~~~~

"What about here?"

Buffy moved her eyes to where Sam was pointing to on the map. He hadn't been able to sleep and had decided to help her with her search.

Working with him on a hunt was absolutely bizarre.

This was Sam Winchester. Jessie's tall, but slightly shy boyfriend who was trying to get into law-school. The Sam she remembered didn't belong in this side of the world. But so far he seemed to be pretty good at this stuff. At least the research part. She was still waiting to see how he did out in the field.

She wasn't worried about it all that much though. John had been training his sons for this for over 22 years. They were all still alive, so they probably didn't suck completely.

"Yep, that looks like a decent place to set up vamp central." It was in the middle of nowhere. Close enough to town, but far enough away so that the screams of their victims wouldn't be heard.

"So, how long have you been doing this?"

She looked up at Sam's sudden question. She'd kinda been waiting for it since he'd joined her, but it caught her by surprise anyway.

"Um, a few hours?" It was lame, but she wanted to buy some time. How was she going to explain being a slayer for 9 years, but knowing practically zip about the things that went bump in the night here? At least compared to how much Sam probably knew, despite his limited knowledge of vampires.

Speaking of the hunter, he didn't seem impressed by her answer.

"Buffy-.."

"I've been a slayer, on and off, for about 9 years." She decided to go with the truth. She didn't want to start lying to Sam now. But that said, she wasn't going anywhere near the 'from another world' part of her story.

"And what exactly _is_ a slayer?"

Buffy smirked at him. She'd forgotten how curious he was. "A slayer is a girl that can take on you, your dad and your brother without that pesky thing called sweat."

That made him raise an eyebrow, and he was about to say something when John suddenly stood up.

"Sam, Buffy crab our stuff, it's time to go. Dean, wake up!"

Buffy started gathering all the maps and documents, while John woke up his oldest son and Sam gathered their things.

"Wha 's goin' on?" Came Dean's sleepy question, as he stumbled off one of the beds rubbing his eyes.

"I picked up a police call. Couple called in that they found a body on the street. When the cops got there, everyone was missing. It's gotta be our guys, let's go." By the time he'd said the last part, he was already out the door.

A frown made its way to Sam's face, while he looked in Dean's direction. "How does he know?"

Dean cast his brother a warning look. "Sammy, leave it."

Buffy frowned as she looked from Dean to Sam, trying to find out what was going on. Ever since the brothers had shown up this.. tension had filled the room. It seemed to be focused mainly around John and Sam, but she couldn't pinpoint what was causing it. Dean had obviously noticed it as well as he was constantly watching his little brother and his father like he would have to step in at any moment.

Deciding to keep an eye on all three of them she left the room.

~~~~********************~~~~

Hours later she was sitting next to a rather irritated hunter who was talking on the phone.

Things had steadily started to become more strained. John was being more and more tight-lipped and said nothing unless it was an order while Sam was growing more and more frustrated with the lack of information. This ended up in a lot of sniping coming from both sides with her and Dean in the middle of it.

It was currently heading towards night time as they were still heading west after their stop at the crime-scene. All that had remained at the scene was an empty car and an elongated tooth, which came from the second set of teeth of one of the vampires.

Buffy looked in the mirror of the car door on her side when she noticed that the headlights of the Impala seemed to be getting bigger and brighter until they suddenly swerved to the left. Turning to face John she saw the black car race past them and suddenly stop right in front of the truck, causing John to break hard. After uttering a few choice words that would have had Spike blushing, he jumped out of the truck and slammed the door shut.

"Oh-oh." She muttered, before getting out herself.

"….-brother's right! We don't have time for this!"

Sam ignored that statement and said "Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now, obviously, something big is goin' down, and we want to know what!"

But John wasn't hearing any of it. He stepped closer to Sam until he was inches away from him. "Get back in the car." He growled in a low voice. And Buffy could tell that this was probably gonna get ugly real fast if this continued.

Sam appeared to come to a decision and lifted his head up in defiance. "No."

John stepped forward even more. "I said get back in the damn car."

She winced as Sam's expression turned slightly condescending, like he was talking to a small child. "Yeah, and I said no."

Dean chose this moment to intervene by pushing Sam away from their father a little. "Alright! You made your point, tough guy!" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking tired. Buffy got the impression he had a lot of experience with this type of situation. "Look, we're all tired. So, why don't we talk about this later? Sammy, I mean it, c'mon."

Sam let Dean steer him towards the car. But apparently he wasn't done yet as he muttered a soft "This is why I left in the first place."

Unfortunately, John heard and proceeded to stalk towards the younger Winchester. "What did you say!?"

Sam turned around. His face not showing any signs of regret about what he'd just said, and headed back towards where he just came from. "You heard me."

John just seemed to snap. A fierce frown formed on his face. "Yeah. _You_ left. Your brother and me? We needed you. _You_ walked away, Sam, _you_ walked away!" This time John actually went as far as to grab a fistful of Sam's shirt.

"You're the one who said don't come back, dad! You're the one who closed that door! Not me! You were just pissed you couldn't control me anymore!"

Okay, enough was enough. She saw Dean starting to step forward in order to separate them again, but Buffy had, had it. Stepping right next to the two arguing hunters, she stuck her hands between them and lifted them a few feet away from each other. Dean stopped and stared at her in surprise. Like he'd forgotten she was there.

Taking turns to glare at the both of them, she started talking in a tone of voice that she usually only reserved for demons that had managed to royally piss her off. "Enough! You can have your little family drama, after we save the couple from the big bad vampires."

Pointing her glare and a finger at Sam she said "You! In the car! And you!" she turned her attention to John for the same treatment as his son. "In the truck!"

Seeing no one move, she added "Get with the moving here people!"

After a few seconds Dean gave her a short nod and lead his brother back towards the car. Seeing that Sam was taking care of, she turned to face John. He glared at her for a moment before he seemed to deflate and turned around to get into the truck.

Buffy sighed heavily.

This could become problematic.

~~~~********************~~~~

The next morning found the group of hunters a few miles away from the entrance of the nest. The trunks of both of the vehicles were open, displaying a variety of weapons.

Buffy armed herself with a machete and a few knives that she stored in her boot and leather jacket. After she was set, she nudged John slightly with her elbow, shooting him a meaningful look and tilting her head in Sam and Dean's direction.

He glared at her before sighing and then clearing his throat. "So.. you boys really wanna know about this colt?"

Both the brothers looked up in surprise and stopped what they were doing before turning towards their father. Shooting each other a glance they both nodded. "Yes, sir."

Buffy rolled her eyes at the 'sir' but didn't comment. She had already badgered the information out of the older hunter after that little scene with Sam, and had then badgered him some more about telling his sons. If only as a piece offering.

The reason John was being such a control-freak about this whole case was because of a gun.

A gun named the colt.

The colt was made in 1835 by Samuel Colt. It was created for a hunter who at that time was still on horseback. The gun only had 13 bullets, but there was something special about this particular weapon.

It was said that the colt could kill pretty much anything.

And apparently it had been in Elkins's possession for quite a while, as he had informed John in a letter that he'd left behind.

This meant that they finally had a way to kill the demon responsible for Jessie's death. Only problem was, was that the vampires had taken it with them, when they had killed Elkins.

After Sam and Dean had processed this piece of news, they headed towards the barn. A few feet from the door they split up. John went to the back, while Sam, Dean and Buffy went in at the front through a window.

Inside it was deathly quiet. Practically all of the vampires were sleeping in hammocks scattered across the room. Looking around it was obvious that the vamps had been partying moments before. Empty beer bottles littered the floor as well as packets of food.

She was about to head towards a table that was stationed near the door, when she heard the sound of a bottle falling over. Flinching slightly before standing completely still, she looked for any sign that the vamps had woken up.

Releasing a soft breath when she saw none, she turned and glared at Dean, who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish and was mouthing 'sorry'.

Turning her attention back to the table, she started scanning its content. It was mainly filled with more empty bottles but it also had wallets, car-keys and various other items on it. Probably stolen goods that they took from their victims.

Looking up briefly when Dean started to break off the hinges of what looked like some sort of cell, she headed towards Sam, who by now had found a dark haired girl tied up to one of the posts.

The closer Buffy got, the more she sensed that something was off. But by the time she figured out what it was, the girl had woken up.

And proceeded to scream.

~~~~********************~~~~

A/N: Well, here we have it! The reunion! Hopefully not too disappointing. ^^  
A big thanks to those who've reviewed, I'm glad people seem to be liking it so far. :)

Let me know what you guys think.

~Mayrose


	10. Ordinary Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I own Supernatural.

**Chapter 10**

She spun with the grace of a ballerina to block the attack coming from behind her. Duck, punch, slash. It was a routine she had almost mastered. Blood was flowing everywhere but the slayer took no notice. There were too many. She couldn't fight them all.

While they were similar in power to the vampires she used to fight on a daily basis back in good old Sunnyhell, these vampire were much smarter. Instead of attacking her one by one and waiting nicely in line for her to kick their asses, they were circling her and lashing out at her when they saw their chance. She was getting tired defending herself and though she would never admit it out loud she was grateful to Sam and Dean for not leaving her behind when she'd told them to.

She risked a glance in their direction to make sure they were alright. Sam was still near the pillar that had the -now decapitated- body of their victim tied to it. He seemed to be doing alright. Two bodies lay in his near vicinity but Buffy noticed he seemed to be nearing the stage of being overwhelmed. Dean was doing a bit better over at the hammocks. He moved like a man possessed and it didn't seem like coincidence to the slayer that he was moving closer and closer to his little brother.

Buffy was impressed. John had trained his kids extraordinarily well. They moved like well seasoned fighters. However, judging from what little interaction she had witnessed over the last day or so, at what price? They were a well oiled machine with a clear chain of command. When John made an order it was followed. They were a unit. But what about family? They hadn't had one single conversation that didn't revolve around something other than the things that made with the creepiness at night. While Buffy could admit that the world they lived in had a tendency to grab your whole attention, even the Scoobies had managed to find a way around all that. They quipped, they joked, they generally just made fun of whatever it was that had decided it was going to rain on their non-demon parade that day.

Where was their release?

A sharp pain in her right side made Buffy focus back on her own fight. Judging from the self-satisfied smirk on the face of the blonde vampire with that ridiculous cowboy hat, she had been the one with the honour of catching the slayer off-guard with her knife. Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, you jabbed me. Want a gold star to go with your fake cowboy boots?"

The vampire snarled at her in anger before smirking again. "I think I'll settle for these boots making an imprint on your face."

"You know," Buffy started while dodging several blows from a vamp with dark brown hair and large looking knuckles. Finally she caught his wrist and pulled him towards her. His head was already rolling on the ground before he had time to balance himself. "a lot of people have tried to give me that look, but I don't really think it goes with my complexion."

Alright, she was now officially done with the circle of death. Standing in front of the blonde vampire with the hat she crouched down low and right as it was about stab her again, the slayer jumped and somersaulted over the female creature and landed behind her. The second she hit the ground Buffy kicked back her leg and made the cowboy blonde crash into one of her partners.

Taking advantage of her enemies' surprise the 24 year old took out the two vampires that had been too busy gaping at their comrades to pay any attention to threat next to them. When that was done Buffy focused on the male trying untangle himself from the heap of limbs made up by him and the cowboy-vamp. Just as she was about to swing her arm downwards in a killing blow she felt an arm encircle her neck while another grabbed her arm and twisted it in a painful manner, causing her to release her machete.

The vampire dragged her back along with him until they were in the middle of the barn. Buffy went along with it without causing too much fuss. Maybe if he thought she was weaker than she was he would slip up and give her the chance to finish him off like so many others before him. Unfortunately, if his tight grip was anything to go by he wasn't buying into her act. Okay then, plan B.

_What was plan B?_ A panicked voice shouted in her head. It sounded oddly like Willow.

"ENOUGH!" The vampire bellowed. Judging from the way all the vampires -the ones that were still standing anyway- immediately froze where they stood, Buffy was going to assume this was the boss-man of the coven.

Well, wasn't that just fan-freakin-tastic?

Not to mention the fact that Buffy didn't need to see his face in order to know just how pissed he was. She had heard the rage in his voice.

"Why can't you people just leave us alone!" He seemed to growl the question to himself as much as the three hunters in the room. Was he seriously trying to sound like he was being persecuted? Like he and his family were being hunted for no good reason?

Buffy scoffed. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you have the munchies for humans." Her eyes slid over to the body still tied to the pole and she added. "Oh, yeah, and you seem to like turning them too."

She noticed Sam giving her a look that she had seen on Giles' face many times before during her teenage years. It was an exasperated look telling her to shut up now before she said something stupid that would get her killed. He and his brother were standing side by side against the wall while each of them were pointing their machete's at the two vampires circling them.

Unlike his brother, Dean didn't seem to be as worried as he switched between looking at Buffy and the leader and the two vamps near him. He was trying to calculate whether or not he could take out the two goons before the leader did something to hurt her. Buffy looked him straight in the eye and nodded as inconspicuously as she could.

The chokehold making it slightly difficult, though.

He seemed to get the message that she would move as soon as he did but just as he tensed in preparation a new figure made its presence known. A female vampire with dark hair and little clothes on walked into the room. Her face showing the same emotion that was apparent in her voice.

"He got away." She hissed.

The grip the leader had Buffy in tightened even further. "Dammit, Kate! Where'd he go?"

"Right here." A very familiar voice sounded behind them.

Followed by a 'click'.

The leader swirled around with Buffy still in his arms. She could feel his shock in the way his body suddenly tensed. But before she could process anything besides seeing John point a gun at the vampire, she heard the shot.

Buffy did not hesitate to pull the arms keeping her secured away from her and she quickly twirled around, prepared to defend herself as soon as the leader shrugged off the ineffective gunshot wound. She was not prepared however for the sight that met her eyes as soon as she had turned around.

What she first noticed was the look of shock on the vampire's face. Then followed by the hole that was positioned in the middle of his forehead. His head, neck and chest lit up from the inside of his body and Buffy swore she could see his skeleton at one point. After a few moments of the vampire arching his back he kneeled and finally lay down on the ground motionless.

The barn was completely silent with astonishment until a screech sounded from the female vampire. "NO! Luther!"

She was about to charge forward and attack John with murderous fury etched on her face when one of the goons near Sam and Dean held her back. "No, Kate, wait! We need to get outta here, man!"

Apparently she still possessed enough sense of self-preservation and backed off, but not before snarling at John. "This is not over. You _will _pay for this."

Still hissing she was the last of the five vampires to leave the barn, leaving a slightly battered but ultimately victorious group of hunters behind. Buffy looked towards John, surprise still very evident on her face. He had a few cuts on his face as well as something that looked like it was going to be one heck of a shiner under his left eye but the slayer didn't think she'd ever seen him happier. He was staring at the gun in his hand with something akin to wonder.

"So, that's the Colt, huh?" The blonde asked after retrieving her lost machete and heading in his direction.

John looked up at the sound of her voice and gave her a slightly dazed smirk. "Yes. Yes, it is."

Buffy angled her body to look behind her. Sliced up bodies of vampires littered the floor along with broken pieces of furniture. Nearly everything was covered in some type of bodily fluid or the hay that had previously been lying only on the ground. When Buffy looked at the brothers she noticed that they, like their father, were covered in cuts and bruises. Sam had the addition of favouring his left side, indicating either bruised or broken ribs.

Both of them were staring at the Colt with the same look of awe that she was sure had been on her face as well.

Finally her eyes landed on the body of the vampire that just moments before had kept her in an iron tight grip. Its face was still frozen in the same expression that it'd had the moment of its death. Or un-death. Whatever.

She turned back to face the eldest hunter in the room and smiled.

"Neat."

* * *

He shut off his phone and shoved it back in its pocket. The police were now notified of the 'horrible massacre' an anonymous caller had just reported in. The victims Dean had found in the barn were not in a good enough shape to be able to identify them. Not that it would matter. They would be gone long before the cops showed up.

As he headed towards his truck he took a moment to observe the trio standing around the Impala. They were leaning with their arms on the roof of the car and taking turns to examine the old piece of weaponry that had become the most prized item in their possession. Or at least in John's possession. He was pretty sure Dean still ranked the car above the gun no matter what it was capable of.

John smirked as Buffy handed the gun over to Dean with an expression close to disgust and said something that made his eldest scoff. Probably something along the lines of her not having to rely on a gun to kill anything. It was a song he had heard many times over the past seven months but he knew that if it came down to it she would use one without hesitation if it saved a life. That was only one of the things that kept back the anxiety that normally would have emerged at the sight of someone interacting with his kids as though she was an old family friend.

Was he making a mistake in trusting her? Letting her get this close to the two things he valued more than anything in this world? The only people that had ever been this close before were Pastor Jim, Bobby Singer and a few others that had hunted with John on a regular basis. People whom he had given hell before he'd let them anywhere near his kids. His kids. The only things he had left of Mary besides memories and a few pictures he couldn't bring himself to look at even twenty years after she had died.

But aside from the bad start at Missouri's and the training he had put her through, Buffy had managed to somehow worm her way into his life -and now by default Sam and Dean's life- with apparent ease. Not that he'd seen anything from her that would make him suspicious of her apart from the deceased status that the world viewed her in. In fact, John found that he actually trusted her with his life.

But was he willing to trust her with the lives of his sons?

He looked back at the group of twenty-something year olds when he heard Buffy laughing. She was smiling at what looked like a verbal battle of wits between Dean and Sam. John snorted. He had seen them do this many times during their teenage years when some cute waitress had been assigned to their table in one of the countless diners they had been too. They would flirt endlessly with the girl -Sammy a hell of a lot more subtle about it than Dean- and then just as quickly they would start bickering with each other. Trying to convince the poor the girl of the diner they were in that day which one of them was the cooler brother.

To see them do it with Buffy was .. amusing. He knew nothing would happen between Buffy and Sam, if only for one reason. Jess. Sam would never date his girlfriend's best friend and if John knew Buffy as well as he thought he did, she would never date her best friend's boyfriend. The fact that Jess was dead would only cement that fact.

So that left Dean.

John actually chuckled for a moment. The thought of Dean trying his usual pick-up lines on Buffy was funny as hell to him. Her possible reactions alone made it hilarious. He suddenly noticed Buffy heading towards him with a curious smile on her face. Probably wondering what _he_ was smiling about. Both Dean and Sam had stopped fighting and were now looking at them with anticipation on their faces.

What were they up to?

"Hey." She greeted while stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Her shoulders were slightly hunched up and her smile was just a little too bright.

She wanted something.

Waiting to see how this played out he nodded a greeting back. "Called the cops. We have to head on out soon."

The blonde nodded while she took her right hand out of her pocket and started tracing invisible patterns on the hood of the truck. She was avoiding his gaze. And if they had been sitting on seats, Dean and Sam would be sitting on the edge of them.

John's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah you're right. We should. We should .. all head on out soon. Maybe, possibly .. in the same direction?" She looked up at him with a hopeful grimace on her face.

So, that's what they were up to.

No way in hell.

But before he could tell them exactly what he thought of that suggestion Buffy interrupted him with an earnest look on her face, realizing that this was the only time she was going to get to state her case. "You should have seen them in there, John! They were great. You _know_ how great they are, you trained them!"

John leaned forward over the hood. When Buffy did the same he spoke in a low voice. "And _you _know how dangerous this damn thing really is. I don't want my kids facin' it! It's too dangerous. Hell, I wouldn't even let you come if it weren't for the fact that you would hunt me down if I ever tried to leave ya behind."

He hadn't meant to say that last bit, but he had now and it was out there. Didn't make it any less true. He would do it without hesitating. But thanks to his training and that which she had already received she was one of the few people that could actually track him down because she knew how he was tracking the demon.

The hesitant façade faded leaving only anger and determination on her face. It was a look that only rarely came out. Mostly when the hunter forgot just how dangerous the young blonde herself could be. "They aren't kids anymore, John. They haven't been for a long time. And yes, I know how dangerous this thing is, which is why I'm even suggesting this in the first place! We need their help. We can't do this alone."

She leaned back and stood up straight. "And think of it like this, how would you feel if _they_ had found the demon and decided to keep you out of it because they wanted to keep _you_ safe?"

He mimicked her action to stand up straight and folded his arms. "They'd never do that." He stated with confidence. "They would call me the minute they'd found it."

"Exactly!" She exclaimed and pointed her finger at him as if she had proven her point. "They would never do that because they know how much it means to you. But they have worked their whole lives to hunt this thing only to be cut out at the last second. And what about Sam? Would you want to keep him from the same revenge you're after so badly?"

That made him pause. She had a point. Which he was only willing to admit in his head. Could he deny Sam the revenge John had been after for over 22 years? Sam's case wasn't the same as him and Mary, he knew, but it was as close as anyone was going to get to feeling the same as he did. At least anyone he knew. And even though Sam didn't remember her, this thing had taken away his mother as well as his girlfriend. Something that Dean definitely did remember.

As he looked at his kids' hopeful expressions a big part of him just wanted to tell them no and order them to a harmless haunted house somewhere far away. But when he focused more specifically on Sam's face, he worried. If he told them no, would it cause irreparable damage to the relationship he had with his youngest son? Sam would most definitely argue back. The resulting fight might even be bigger than the one they'd had when the kid had left them for college.

And Buffy was right about the demon too. It was powerful. So powerful that he was fiercely glad to have a slayer at his side to help him. They could use the boys' help. He did know what they were capable off and he knew intellectually that they would be an asset. His heart, though, was having some difficulty following that same line of thought.

John was silent for a long time before he remembered that the police would be there any second and that they should leave now. He sighed heavily before replying reluctantly. "Fine."

Her smile could have been used to power a house and John scowled as she turned around and gave the boys a thumbs up. Ignoring the impressed glance Sam and Dean shared with each other, John focused on Buffy.

"Kid," She turned back to face him. Something in his expression making her smile dim a little. "I'm getting a little tired of you arguing with me about my family. They're my kids. I'll raise 'em how I see fit. So," He softened his tone a little when she started biting her lip and looking worried, but John continued nonetheless. "stop meddling. That clear?"

Her expression was a mixture of chagrined and a pout when she uttered the promise like she was choking slightly on the words. "Fine, I'll butt out."

Of, course that could never just be the end of it.

"But I reserve the right to interfere when you and Sam get all stupid and territorial!"

John rolled his eyes as he got into the truck. He looked into the back view mirror to see Impala driving smoothly behind him as he started heading out and John huffed a humourless laugh.

Buffy not meddling?

Right.

* * *

  
A/N: Okay, so when I said updates were gonna be a bit slow I hadn't meant to leave a gap of five months in between chapters. Guess school really kept me busy. If anyone is still reading this, I apologize for the long wait. I'm gonna try and keep it from happening again, but knowing myself I'm not going to make promises. Luckily there seem to be people here who are willing to bribe me with cookies. ;)

Anyway, new chapter. =]

Let me know what you guys think. Also, makes it kindahard to see if I already answered a review or not. So I'm gonna do it here. I have read all of them and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who's reviewed. I really appreciate it!

-Mayrose


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